Ever Changing Life
by apalusa-light
Summary: What happens after the final four words? We follow how life changes for Rory now that her life is not simply her own... Story picks up shortly after the ending of AYITL.
1. The Consequences of Vegas

Hello Everyone!

When I finished up _**Best Is Yet To Come**_in August I mentioned that I was already working on a new story based on the _Gilmore Girls_ Netflix revival, _A Year In The Life,_ and here we are at the start of my brand new story: _**Ever Changing Life**_. We pick up the story just a few days after the end of the revival and those now infamous final four words. While working on _**Ever Changing Life**_ I re-watched large chunks of the original series and almost all of _A Year in the Life,_ and I really tried to make what and how I've written this story fit together as cohesively as possible. Some details - little and not-so-little have been 'creatively interpreted' so they make sense within the world I'm writing. BUT I tried very to keep the spirit of _Gilmore Girls_ as accurate as I possible could.

I hope you enjoy my story and as always: _I do not own or hold rights to _Gilmore Girls_ or it's characters, unique settings, or established storylines. I've borrowed these without any intention or desire to offend the creators. _

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**Chapter 1: The Consequences of Vegas**

"Not that I'm not happy to see you again," Chris commented into the quiet of their dinner at a restaurant in downtown Hartford, "but I assumed when you left last week without saying anything that you were going to ignore my suggestion for dinner."

"I wouldn't have just ignored the suggestion." She denied. He raised an eyebrow at her but voiced no argument. "Well I wouldn't have ignored it. I would have at least made up some excuse for why I couldn't come."

"Uh huh. Well I guess I can't complain."

"You shouldn't." She agreed.

He smiled at her with appreciation. "After all, I get to have dinner with the most beautiful woman in the room." His smile and love for her deepened as she blushed at the compliment.

He'd been watching her throughout the evening and it hadn't taken long for him to realize that her mind was frequently somewhere else, her thoughts far from the meal on her plate and the conversation that was for the most part simply casual between them. She was one of his life's great regrets - not the existence of her, he could never regret her creation or her presence in his life. But he had always, would always regret the distance in their relationship. He knew the fault was his. For so many years he'd linked his interactions with her to those with her mother, the result of course being that every time he screwed things up with Lorelai and took off, he was leaving behind his little girl.

They'd found a semblance of a good relationship during her later years of college but even that had been marred by his and Lorelai's eventual marriage and divorce. Oh, they kept in touch with frequent emails, especially during her time on the campaign trail, and phone calls from time to time as well. Unfortunately by then the damage had been done and a precedence for distance between them had been set. He could probably count the number of times they'd had face-to-face meetings during the past few years on his fingers. The fact that this was their second meeting in a week only peaked his curiosity.

"Well however you want to put it," he started drawing her attention back to him. "I was surprised when you called to set up dinner."

She met his eyes with her own wary gaze. Last week he'd thought her nervous due to the changing nature of her career and what his reaction might be to her book, and to her mother's marriage. Now, seeing that expression still in her eyes he wondered at the cause.

"I assume everything went well with the wedding?" He asked and she nodded but offered nothing more. "And you're still writing the book?" He continued trying to get a gauge of that situation.

This time, praise God, she gave him more than merely a movement of her head. "Yeah, I'm writing. I finished the first three chapters before the wedding and since then I've been focusing on outlining the story and really nailing down what I want the end product to look like. You know, deciding what to put in, what to leave out, which periods to really dig in to and which, I guess you could say, I'll gloss over."

"And Lorelai is really good with the whole thing?" He asked again because though it hadn't really stood out to him in the moment, he had eventually realized that when he'd voiced that question to her in his office last week, she'd more or less side-stepped the answer. Now he saw the slight grimace.

"She wasn't." Rory admitted and focused her gaze on her water goblet while the fingers of her left had worried at the utensils still lying beside her plate.

"She wasn't?" He repeated when she paused.

"I gave her the first three chapters when I finished them and told her to read them. To read them and if she still had major issues with the project then I would let it go." She paused again but only briefly this time. "The day before the wedding she gave them back to me and told me she wasn't going to read it until it was finished. She said that if she hated it at that point she'd just sue me."

Christopher smirked. "I'm going to assume she was joking."

"It's Mom, only time will tell." Rory said with a small, barely there smile.

"True." Then he watched as that small bit of humour faded from her face, her eyes still locked on the water. "You're killing me here kid." Her eyes flew to his, startled, and he raised both eyebrows at her in question. "Seriously, what gives?"

She bit at her lip and glanced around the room. Finally she brought her eyes back to him. "You said that Mom raising me alone was how it was meant to be. Her and me. You said she was a force of nature and that you simply couldn't, and so didn't compete with what she wanted."

He frowned slightly. "Yes," he paused. Debated. And sighed. "I'll always regret not being there for you Rory. I'll regret not being your dad the way you deserved for me to be your dad. But of all the possibilities that were in front of us at the time, everything happened just as it should have."

"Do you ever wish mom hadn't told you about me? Do you think your life, your relationship with your parents, even the way you held on to your relationship with mom for so many years, would have been different or better, if mom had simply left Hartford before I was born, and before ever telling you that she was pregnant?"

"Rory." His frown deepened. "I don't—"

"Please," Rory said softly but there was a sliver of desperation suddenly in her tone that begged him to carefully consider his answer. So he started with the easiest part of her question.

"I think that my bad relationship with my parents had very little to do with Lorelai and even less to do with you. We were like oil and water from the time I learned to talk. My father wanted everything his own way. Everything. I could never accept that and he could never accept me." He stopped for a moment and thought before continuing. "You coming along honestly just gave them something to blame my failings on. Whether those failings were real or not they, as I'm sure you've been told hundreds of times before, had nothing to do with you."

She gave another of those small smiles of acknowledgement at his assertion and he continued. "And I loved your mom. If she had just disappeared I don't know what I would have done. I don't know if I would have hung on to those feelings for as long as I did, or whether they would have simply faded away. There still wouldn't have been a natural end to the relationship, so you know, it's highly likely that I still would have dug in my heels and hung on to that." That garnered yet another smile from across the table, bigger this time.

"Or I could have reverted to form for the typical Hartford elite male and forgotten her in a moment because of that ole 'out of sight, out of mind' adage." He added lightly with a shrug and smirk. Then his features sobered and he finished off the scotch that remained in his glass before finally addressing the last of her questions.

"But if she hadn't told me about you and I found out later? And unless she moved a hell of a lot further away than Stars Hallow and never had any contact with her family ever again, I would have eventually found out." He paused and frowned. "Finding out about you later, finding out that she'd kept you a secret, it would have been devastating. I was never a good dad but you, Rory, you were everything good to me. If she'd hid that from me, it would have absolutely destroyed me."

He watched her as he answered, watched the changing expressions and emotions flow over her features, watched the impact of his final statement as it hit her, and he knew, _knew_ that whatever the reason for her questions it had nothing to do with her book.

"Rory what's going on?" He questioned quietly. "It's obvious that something is going on inside that brilliant mind of yours. And it's just as obvious to me that whatever it is is weighing heavily on your heart too. You've come to me, twice now, and you've danced around this, whatever this is. What is going on?"

She swallowed and then spoke in soft tones that wavered under heavy emotion. "I'm pregnant."

To say he was stunned would be an understatement. He was simply and completely blown over. A baby. He'd never actually imagined Rory with a baby before, never thought of her having one as a possibility that needed to considered. At least not at any point thus far in her life. There may have been a moment or two, years ago, when the thought had vaguely crossed his mind, but to actually hear her say the words—well it defied explanation. And then there was the look on her face, the one that said she expected some kind of explosive response and was bracing herself for the attack. It was the expression that pulled him back to another time and place when he'd heard those words.

"Wow." He softly exclaimed on a rush of breath and reached across the table to touch her hand. "Is it, uh, Pete's?"

"Paul. His name is Paul." Rory snapped and her hand tensed under his. "And no, it's not his. He broke up with me on the weekend, by text, because we hadn't seen one another in nearly 7 months."

Her admission was swift, like ripping off a bandaid, but his mind quickly connected bits of information he'd been told over time and he gripped her hand under his so that she couldn't pull away as he asked gently, though it came out more as a statement than an inquiry.

"It's Logan's?"

Her gaze jerked to his and he tightened his grip more as she tried to slip her hand from under his. "What? How do you even know..." but her question trailed off as she realized the answer herself. "Mom." She muttered.

"Your mother called me one day in the spring. She kept going on and on about a one-nighter with a Wookiee, about how Deedee in London was really Logan, and how once again you were the other woman. Obviously I didn't understand everything she was going on about but I got the general overtures of her ranting and let her have her head. It was illuminating but at the same time it was sort of refreshing too." He paused and when he loosened his grip he was pleased when she didn't immediately withdraw. "I know your mother would like to believe that since she and I made so many mistakes in our own lives that you can simply learn from them without making any of your own. And while doing that would certainly allow you to avoid a certain degree of suffering, making mistakes is how we learn. It's how we learn that we made the wrong decisions, it's how we learn what's bad for us, or what is actually good for us. I know most people wouldn't agree with me, but I think it's the mistakes we make that shape us in to becoming better people. After all, how can we ever truly change if we don't understand that who and what we are needs changing."

Rory frowned as she considered her father's words and realized there was truth in them. It wasn't necessarily the whole picture of any situation but he was right. Wasn't it sort of like what Jess had told her during the summer when he'd essentially said that you had to fall in order to get back up; that without failure there was no true measure of success. She wasn't going to think about the fact that she could have missed some essential life lessons by not taking more risks when she was younger, by over-thinking things with pro/con lists and endless debates with her mother. There was no denying that she'd made mistakes in her life, she'd long since left the princess-on-a-pedestal of her youth behind, but didn't she still judge herself by that gauge? Wasn't it true that others in her life continued to do the same?

"Granted," her father continued drawing her attention back to him. "There are some experiences of our lives that we can wish you wouldn't have to face yourself."

"Such as becoming a single parent?" she wondered aloud.

"Such as that," he admitted. "But Rory, Logan-"

"Is engaged." She interrupted.

He nodded. "He's engaged. But then he always was, wasn't he?"

"Dad," she started in a guilty tone of voice and bit her bottom lip, except then she stalled out.

Now it was his turn to frown as he considered the change in her expression at his words. And he wondered... "Exactly how long have you and Logan been seeing each other Rory?"

"It doesn't matter." She replied simply.

"Let's just say I'm curious." He suggested. "How long?"

Rory finally pulled her hand from under his and tapped her fingers on the table a couple of times before stilling them. "We first ran in to each other in Hamburg about five years ago."

"And I know, because I remember the gossip at the club, that he only became engaged maybe a year and a half ago." He commented after a moment. "So it sort of begs to question, which of you was the other woman?"

"Since Hamburg, he and I have been just casual. A casual lover has no claim." She argued.

"Yes, yes, I heard all about the 'Vegas' agreement from your mother. Which is stupid. You and Logan were never casual." Chris told her. "I know that's how you two started things at Yale, but even then it was never really casual."

She sighed and seemed to shrink in her seat. "It doesn't matter, Dad, because he is engaged now. Whether he was when all of this started, he is now."

"Did he hide his relationship with her from you?" He asked.

"No," she replied and her brows furrowed. "No, he told me when he was first introduced to her, and when they started seeing each other. I never really let him tell me much, I never wanted to know more. We were just—Vegas."

The sat in silence for a few minutes and Christopher considered all she'd said, all Lorelai had told him earlier that year, and all he remembered of Logan and Rory's relationship a decade earlier. He thought about everything he knew of Rory over the past few years. And he thought about the pregnancy she had announced only minutes earlier.

"Well kid, this time Vegas has consequences."

She snorted but said nothing in response.

"Have you told him yet?"

She swallowed. "No."

"I hope you know that you need to." He commented lightly though he wasn't feeling particularly light hearted at the moment.

"If I didn't before, I definitely do now. Especially since you and Mom, and Luke have all said so." Rory answered sullenly.

"Rory," he chided in an increasingly serious tone. "Whatever he decides to do, that's on him. But you owe him the truth and the opportunity to make his own choice."

"I know," she sighed. "I just don't know what I'm going to do yet." She focused her gaze on his once again. "Shouldn't I know that first?"

He nodded then, again, he laid his hand over hers and kept his eyes on hers. "Just don't count him out quite yet, Rory."

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So, tell me... What do you think?

And just so you know - the next chapter will be published within the next day or two. :-)


	2. Facing Facts

You guys have no idea how happy I am with the response I've already received for this story! I want to say thank you to everyone who submits a review, but I especially want to give special thanks to those who commented in the first 18 hours or so after the first chapter of the story went live: lkrissan, ReadAndLive, xshynenstarx, FlowerGirl0817, chelsbaby, rnataja, and 3 guests. (I'm posting this story on Wattpad too and have received a few great review/comments over there too!)

Seriously, thank you. This story has percolated in my mind since the revival first aired and I'm still somewhat astonished with how quickly and easily I've been able to write it, since getting started on it in August. I am truly, simply grateful that you seem to be liking it so far.

On that note, I'm back again today with Chapter 2. At this point I really have nothing more to say besides... Enjoy!

Disclaimer: _I do not hold the rights to _Gilmore Girls _or any of it's characters, settings, or established storyline. For the purpose of entertainment only, I gratefully borrow the _Gilmore Girls _world with no intended offence. _

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**Chapter 2: Facing Facts**

London in December was perhaps the most consistently gloomy setting she had ever experienced. The irony of her situation being that this was the fourth time she'd made a trip to the city during that dreary lead up to the holiday season. The first trip was, of course, when Logan was in London during her final year at Yale. The second and third visits were during the course of their Vegas arrangement the past few years. Now here she was again, staying in a hotel rather than at Logan's townhouse, and this time she held no illusions that the visit would be enjoyable. She'd arrived the night before and had three and a half days to connect with Logan before her return flight to the States.

Three more days to drum up the courage to tell the man she'd been in love with for a dozen years but had just months before said goodbye to, again, that it turns out there was still more to their story.

Three days to figure out how to tell the man she'd all but pushed into another woman's arms, that she was pregnant with their child.

But how?

How do you tell someone that you'd been both running from and to for the past five years that now, _now_ when you've resigned yourself to a life without him, you're going to be permanently and concretely linked? As in - forever.

And honestly, she had no idea how he'd react. She'd brainstormed dozens of ways to tell him and dozens of ways for him to respond, but she honest-to-God couldn't anticipate what he'd say, or what he'd do. It wasn't that she didn't know him. She believed she knew what he would _want_ to do. But...

But there was Odette. There was the 'dynastic plan.'

Over the past month, she'd spent whole days cursing herself for never asking more about that relationship, more about that plan. And she'd lost count of the number of times she'd cursed herself for never allowing herself to ask for more _for_ herself. New Hampshire had just been the last opportunity, but Logan had offered more of himself on multiple occasions - casually offering to do a thing for her, or discretely arriving to spend time with her here or there. He had always supported her drive and her ambitions for her career, even as she'd begun the transition to writing books instead of continuing to pursue journalism.

And what had she done? She'd constantly reiterated that they were 'Vegas' and that he owed her nothing. She'd turned his generosity back on him and had, on more than one occasion, actually made him feel bad for even making the effort. She'd accepted his love, had taken it in, and fairly often she gave nothing back.

Since that first conversation with her father about the baby, Logan and their whole Vegas relationship shortly after her mother's wedding, Rory had come to the realization that she'd been exceedingly selfish. For so many reasons and in so many ways, she'd taken what she wanted of him and offered very little of herself in return; and that despite the fact that deep down, all she'd really wanted was him.

That had been a bitter pill to swallow. After all this time and when it was already too late, to realize that at the end of the day all she wanted was him.

And now the baby.

God, now she wants the baby too. So much.

Certainly there are times she wakes up in the middle of the night simply consumed by fear - fear that she'll screw the baby up even more than she is, fear that she'll be a horrible mother, fear that she'll always be alone - but she wants their baby with a fierceness she'd never really known for anything, or anyone else. Part of her dreams of a little boy with brown eyes and a mischievous smirk like his father. Another part of her wishes for a little girl with his hair and her eyes, another Lorelai to carry on the family legacy.

Sometimes the want simply swamps her.

Which brings her back to London and the purpose of her trip. Which brings her back to: how.

She watched a woman climb into a cab and leave, alone, presumably for the evening. From her position on the bench in the little park across the street, she'd seen Logan arrive home a while ago. She waited several long minutes and then rose to her feet and strolled over to his door. There she hesitated, as she'd done at his office earlier that day. Then her fear had ballooned within her hesitation and she'd turned abruptly and made a quick escape. _That_ she couldn't let happen again. She had to do this, and she had to do it now. She only had another day and a half before her return flight.

She took a deep breath and lifted her hand, only to pause, take another couple quick breaths and then knock a quick rhythm against the door. She closed her eyes briefly as her hand fell to her side. Then the door swung open and he was there.

"Rory?" His tone was rich with surprise and tinged with worry. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm-" she began but then clamped her lips shut at the accented voice that sounded behind her.

"Rory?" The voice echoed. "This is Rory?"

Lips still tightly sealed, her eyes met Logan's and then she swiveled to face the woman behind her. That first view of the woman Logan was planning to spend the rest of his life with was like a jolt of lightning because she didn't seem anything like what Rory had expected. Odette was willow thin and slightly shorter than herself, with dark blonde hair, hazel eyes, and a worried expression on her face. She was carrying a bag with a few groceries and her purse dangled on her arm. And this was not the woman who had so recently left the apartment.

Odette's gaze swept over her before glancing over Rory's shoulder to look at Logan.

"Perhaps we should go inside," she suggested lightly and looked again at Rory. "You look a little ill."

"I'm sorry," Rory stammered out. "I should go."

"Don't be silly, you just got here. Come in." Odette said again. "Please." As she spoke, she slipped past both Rory and Logan, then turned back to the pair of them. "Please Rory, come in."

Rory had turned to follow Odette with her gaze as the other woman had slipped past and into the small foyer of the house. With the polite demand issued Odette continued deeper into the house with her grocery bag. Odette out of earshot and sight, Rory glanced at Logan and found him smiling slightly at her.

"I'm so sorry," she began in a whisper. "I saw someone leave a few minutes ago and I thought it was Odette. I should have called or emailed or something first. I shouldn't have just come here."

He reached out, took gentle hold of her arm and pulled her slowly in to the entry way. "It's fine. The cleaning lady was in today and left shortly after I got back. Come in, Rory. At least to get warmed up."

"Logan." Rory argued quietly. "I shouldn't be here. I really should go." But even as she spoke, she allowed him to usher her fully through the door and heard the sound of the door's lock engaging as it closed behind her.

"Let me take your jacket," he instructed quietly as he lifted her hair off the collar and slipped the outer layer from her shoulders. She turned toward him and watched as he hung the coat on a conveniently placed coat tree.

"Logan, I uh," she tried again but he just shook his head and gestured in the direction Odette had gone.

Right then Odette's voice rang out. "Take her up to the living room Logan, I'll be up in a couple minutes with something warm to drink."

"Come on, Rory," The tone of his voice held amusement, perhaps because she was sure her expression showed all kinds of confusion, but when she glanced at his face, she saw that his eyes showed a growing concern. His hand came to rest at the small of her back and with gentle pressure he led her to the stairs.

She allowed him to guide her all the way up and into the more comfortable, private living room on the upper level of the townhouse, all the while her eyes searched the surrounding spaces. His touch was a whisper at her back, but its effect was like a lick of fire all the way up her spine. Upstairs she pulled away from his touch and though she knew it was rude, wandered the room. From the corner of her eye she saw Logan settle against the arm of the couch. She knew he was watching her and when she glanced briefly at him, she saw the concern she'd glimpsed downstairs had grown, a frown now graced his face.

"Rory, I can honestly say I'm surprised to see you." He said gently. "That last time—you seemed so set on goodbye, on it being the end."

"I know," she agreed with a nod. "I was."

"Well, then, I guess I'm confused." He began, only to be interrupted by the sound of Odette coming up the stairs. They both turned to look at her as she appeared at the top of the steps carrying a tray with a teapot, cups and the little dishes Rory knew within which she would find cream and sugar.

"I'm sorry," Odette apologized as she moved to the low table in front of the couch and carefully set the laden tray down. "I know you'd probably prefer coffee but we're out and I forgot to pick any up when I got a few groceries earlier. All I've got to offer is tea, but I thought we could add a splash of Logan's whisky to it."

"O, there should be some instant-" Logan began only to stop abruptly when Rory spoke at the same moment. They were all still and silent for a single heartbeat of time before he turned his attention to the brunette. "I'm sorry, what?"

"She already has the tea right here. It's fine." Rory repeated with a gesture towards the tray.

Still, he continued to stare at her. "Are you sure? The water would already be hot, it would only take a minute."

"I'm good with tea." Rory repeated one last time and turned away from the couple. Now that she was here facing Logan and his fiancé, she had no idea how to even begin. To try and help settle her nerves she continued to aimlessly wander the room, thoughtlessly picking up knickknacks to fidget with them before replacing them and moving on.

"Excellent," Odette commented eventually and settled back more comfortably on the couch. "I can't tell you how happy I am to finally meet you Rory. Logan has told me a great deal about you."

The words caught Rory's attention and she looked over at them with a frown. "I can't imagine why." She replied carefully.

Odette laughed. "Why I'm happy to meet you? Or why Logan's told me about you?"

"Both! Either!" Rory said quickly and then flashing her eyes toward Logan darkly. "Why would any man tell their fiancé about their, their- their whore."

"You're being a little bit ridiculous don't you think?" Logan snapped abruptly. Angry.

"Ridiculous? Me?" She answered in short, shocked tones. "What's ridiculous is me standing here, in your home, while your fiancé prepares tea for us."

"Then why are you here? Why did you come?" The angry questions ripped from his throat before he could hold them back. He _was_ glad to see her after all.

"I, uh, I," She stuttered in response, suddenly conscious of the fact that not only did they have Odette watching them carefully while they argued, but that she still didn't know how to tell him the news she'd travelled all the way to Britain to share.

"Logan, why don't you get the whisky for us," Odette suggested calmly. "Rory come sit." For a moment the three of them were frozen in place, then Logan pushed up from where he rested against the end of the couch and Rory glanced around the room blinking rapidly. It was then Odette realized how close to tears the other woman was. "Rory please, come sit with me." She repeated quietly and shifted slightly while patting the couch cushion beside her. She watched the indecision, the confusion wash over Rory's face before she visibly steeled herself and approached.

The clink of the whisky decanter on the tray told Odette that Logan had returned, as well as the shifting cushions beneath her as Logan dropped down onto the opposite arm of the sectional. As Rory settled gingerly beside her, Odette turned her attention to the tea, lifting the crystal decanter she poured a measure of liquor in to the first cup, the second, but as she moved toward the third, Rory leaned forward and touched the handle.

"I'll just have the tea straight, if you don't mind." She said softly.

With a smile Odette replaced the stopper and bottle, then lifted the teapot to pour. "Of course," she replied and poured Rory's cup first before filling her own and Logan's. After setting the pot aside she passed out the cups and faced Rory again.

Rory had her eyes fixed on the contents of her cup, a frown still marring the smooth natural beauty of her face. Odette glanced at Logan with her brow raised in question but with his own gaze locked on Rory, he simply shrugged and shook his head in response. The three of them sat silently, one lost in thought, two becoming increasingly concerned and curious as to the reason for Rory's visit.

Eventually, finally, Rory burst out with, "Everything's the same," and raised her eyes to the others.

Odette frowned and glanced at Logan, who asked "What?"

"This place," Rory clarified gesturing at the room. "Everything is the same."

"Oh, mais oui, of course," Odette replied. "I've always thought it lovely."

Rory shrugged, "I guess I just assumed it would be different now."

"I saw no reason to change anything," Odette admitted. "Besides, I'm only here part-time. Logan is the one that has to live in it."

"But," Rory paused, her frown deepening. "I thought you'd moved in."

"Yes, technically, I suppose but," Odette answered, and now it was she who shrugged. "My father said it was time for our engagement to move forward and insisted we move in with one another if we still couldn't name a date for the wedding."

"Oh," was all that came out in response.

"And considering the situation, there's no way we would name a date." Odette finished and was surprised when Rory flinched slightly at the last comment.

"Right. The situation." With the softly muttered words Rory once again settled her gaze on her tea but both Odette and Logan watched as Rory's skin paled far beyond her normal porcelain tones.

Logan leaned forward and placed his teacup back on the tray with a sigh. "Rory, what are you doing here? It's obvious this is the last place on Earth you'd like to be."

She took a deep breath and released it slowly. Odette saw the tremor that shook the liquid in the other woman's cup before Rory abruptly leaned forward to set it down with a clatter.

It was then that one reality of their situation became apparent to her. "You really never told her anything about us, did you?" Odette questioned and glanced at Logan, who shrugged in response, before turning back to Rory.

"Rory you have no reason to be nervous, I swear," Odette told her, then looked at Logan again. "I can't believe you didn't tell her."

"It wasn't for lack of trying," Logan retorted and smiled sadly. "She didn't want to hear what I had to say."

"It isn't any of my business," Rory said and Odette watched hurt flash in Logan's eyes, even as he rolled them in exasperation.

"Of course, it is." Odette insisted.

"No, it's not." Rory exclaimed. "I'm already involved in this more than I ever should have been. I-"

"Now I agree with Logan," Odette told her sharply, cutting off whatever else Rory had been about to say. "You are being ridiculous."

"That's-"

"You were with him first. Casual, oui, but first." Odette began, the accented tones of her voice becoming sharper, more pronounced.

"I don't think 'dibs' counts in this situation." Rory said dryly.

"Perhaps not, but it's something that has always bothered me when Logan and I have discussed things. I've never understood this 'Vegas' thing the two of you have been doing," She continued. "It's stupid. When you've got a history like yours and Logan's it is never just a casual thing and calling it Vegas is demeaning to both of you."

"O," Logan tried to stop her because he realized that she was about to unload on a completely unsuspecting recipient. All he received was a vague wave.

"You loved each other at Yale and, I think, that if he hadn't given you an ultimatum all those years ago both of your lives would have been very different. The roads you've been on have led you in a variety of directions, but they also led you back to one another. If you both weren't so stubborn, or so blind, you would never have ended up where you are right now. And I certainly would never have been placed in the middle of it all." The French in her voice became even more distinct but still the words were precisely spoken.

"You? You got pulled in the middle?" Rory jumped to her feet in shock. "You're his fiancé! His parents love you. I'm sure Shira is happily imagining the perfectly posh, blue-blooded babies you'll have right this moment."

"That's so not the point." Odette muttered and slid her own cup back on to the tray.

"No? Well from someone who never quite measured up, it's a factor." Rory shot back.

"Oh, don't be a child." Odette told her.

"A child?!" Rory gasped.

"Yes, a child." Odette snapped. "You're not a sixteen-year-old girl whom requires permission to date a boy. You're not twenty-two and looking for a parents' blessing. You're thirty-two years old. An adult. Start acting like it."

"Brilliant advice, really," Rory sarcastically drawled. "Especially coming from one half of the 'great dynastic plan.'"

"Rory," Logan attempted to interrupt, only to be ignored.

"And if you'd pulled your head out the sand every once in a while to actually listen when he spoke to you, you would understand the situation and maybe, just maybe you wouldn't have spent so much of the past couple years being miserable and making Logan miserable as well." Odette angrily retorted.

"O, that's not fair." He lamented and got to his feet.

Rory laughed humourlessly and gestured wildly. "If he was so goddamn miserable all this time, why did he keep welcoming me back with wide open arms? Why did he answer my every call, make himself available every time I was coming to town, or go out of his way time and time again to make me happy?"

"Because he loves you, you fool." Odette shouted and had the gratification to see Rory clam up and go silent.

"That's enough Odette." He said firmly and touched her shoulder to get her to sit, to calm down, to just stop talking. She shrugged his hand off.

"He loves you. So even when you hurt him, even when you flit in and out of his life as if he's far less important than everything, anything else, he welcomes you back with a smile and all of his heart. Because he loves you. To him, having something of you is better than having nothing at all." Odette plowed on. "So, he accepts the scraps of yourself you give him, and he hoards his moments with you. And hopes, always hopes that maybe this time you'll be ready to share all of yourself."

"Why on earth would I share all of myself with him when he has you?"

"He doesn't have me." Odette told her and the emphatic declaration very nearly knocked the wind right out of Rory.

Weak, suddenly nauseous and tired, Rory lowered herself back down to the couch. She stared at the other two as all of a sudden it occurred to her that she really truly had no idea what their relationship actually consisted of. She'd assumed a lot of things - about Odette, about Logan, about the whole damn 'dynastic plan' - but Logan had been right when he'd told Odette that she hadn't wanted to hear anything about their life. She hadn't wanted to learn the details of their coexistence or their plans for the future. She had been perfectly happy, as Odette said, to hide her head in the sand. Obviously that needed to stop.

"Of course, he does, you're engaged." Rory finally replied.

Odette had been watching her face as Rory had sat, had watched the emotions and realization that maybe she didn't understand the situation as well as she thought she did.

"We aren't getting married." Odette stated boldly and then held her hand up to forestall whatever Rory would have said in return. "We are engaged because my father invited Logan to brunch one Saturday. During the meal he handed him my grandmother's ring to give to me while I sat there watching. Then he informed us that Mitchum would be running the announcements in the papers the following day."

Rory looked back and forth between the two of them, blinking. "I guess I don't understand." She fisted her hands in her lap to keep from fidgeting.

"The 'Great Dynastic Plan'," Odette began, "and my father actually does call it that, is his attempt to ensure the continuation of his family line. Or at least that's what he says."

She paused while reaching forward to the teacup she'd earlier abandoned, sipped and replaced it on the table. "In actuality the entire thing is his way of saving his pride. Of limiting his shame. And he is willing to give Mitchum a substantial amount of money to see it done."

"Wait," Rory interrupted. "He's paying Mitchum?"

"Think of it as a dowry, it that helps it make more sense." Odette suggested even while Logan answered.

"I turn 35 in a couple months, Rory, and I haven't settled down with a wife, nor have I produced an heir. Is it really that surprising to you that my father would essentially buy me a wife, or sell me as a stud, if it meant he saw those things happen and he made a ton of money in the process?" Logan explained and for the first time Rory heard the bitterness under the casual tones.

"But you're both legally, morally, and in every other way that counts, adults. They can't _make_ you get married. How could either of them believe that you'd simply go along with it?" Rory asked.

"It's complicated." Odette said. "And simple. Going along with it to this point has simply been easier for both Logan and me. Neither of us have any interest in marrying the other, and even if Logan did agree to truly go through with their plan, I wouldn't."

Rory stared at her, a myriad of thoughts flooding her mind, confusion apparent on her face. "But why?"

"Why, what?" Logan asked.

"Why go along with it?" She turned and truly looked at him for the first time since they sat down. "Why the charade?" _Why wouldn't you marry him?_ She didn't voice the question aloud but all three of them knew it was there in her mind.

"Because I could never love him. Not as he deserves." Odette admitted. "But the very reason for my father's elaborate plan is the single most important reason I could never go through with it."

Rory turned back to Odette, still mired with confusion. "I don't understand."

Odette responded with a small sad smile. "To my father's everlasting shame, I'm a lesbian. I have my own 'Rory' in Paris and we're very happy together."

* * *

I'm gonna go find something else to do (maybe hide under a blanket) while I wait to see what you think.

*looking around* "Hey kids! Distract me, I beg you?"

*something shatters in another room*

"NOT LIKE THAT!"

Well, I'm dying to hear your reactions... hit me with them!


	3. An Abrupt Change of View

So... twisty, twisty, twisty...

I adored every single one of your reactions to the ending of the last chapter. I'm ecstatic that you've, so far, loved what I've written. My fingers are certainly crossed that the trend will continue!

This chapter is quite a bit shorter than all the rest in the story, however it does illuminate something that holds some importance down the line. I'm very hopeful you'll enjoy this little slice of the interaction between Rory, Logan and Odette.

Of course, _I do not own _Gilmore Girls_ or any related aspect of it, including, but not limited to, the characters, settings, and established storyline. My use of the _Gilmore Girls _universe is for entertainment only. _

Enjoy!

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**Chapter 3: An Abrupt Change of View**

Rory stared at them in silence. No one moved. They hardly dared breathe. Eventually she stuttered out a shocked, clarifying, "I'm sorry, what?"

Odette enjoyed the completely stupefied expression on the brunettes face. She smirked and when she spoke she made sure to speak slowly. "I am a lesbian."

"Your father knows?" Rory questioned, her gaze locked on Odette's.

"Certainement. Oui. My father knows," Odette replied with a humourless chuckle.

Rory shifted her eyes to Logan. "Does your father know?" She asked.

"Wouldn't exactly fall in line with his expectations of a new heir, would it?" Logan answered.

"How can your father think that buying you a husband, which is essentially what he's done or is trying to do," Rory redirected to the other woman. "How can he think that simply finding a husband for you would change anything about your sexual preferences?"

"My father is a very old fashioned French aristocrat. To his mind, appearances are what is most important and what goes on behind closed doors doesn't matter. So long as there would eventually be a child to carry on our bloodline and a husband to claim us, my father would be happy." Odette explained.

Rory goggled her wide eyes, opening further in surprise. "So what? He expects you to marry Logan, so you've got the husband and have a child with him so that his precious bloodline continues into the future. But he's perfectly okay with you continuing your other relationship, your preferred relationship, as long as you do it discretely. All that just so for appearances sake everything looks, what, _normal_?"

Logan and Odette both laughed at the summation.

"No darling," Odette finally replied between chuckles. "My father expects that since he's provided me with a husband that I will suddenly no longer be a lesbian."

"He can't believe it's truly that simple." Rory said.

"He does. Or he wants to." Odette answered. "It wouldn't do for his peers to learn the truth after all. What would they think of him if they knew I preferred women to men?"

"So he gives you a man and calls it done?"

"To him it is." Odette replied to the incredulous question.

"Ace, think of someone much inline with your grandparents generation. Older even. Maybe something more like your great-grandparents." Logan suggested.

Rory looked back and forth between them. The reality of Logan's relationship with his fiancée so very much different than anything that she had ever attempted to imagine - not that she'd often attempted to imagine his relationship with Odette before recently. Worse, the picture that was forming put her own behaviour during recent years into even worse light. Oh, certainly it made her feel better to know that the tawdry shade she'd been colouring her and Logan's relationship wasn't really quite so tawdry, but when she considered all the times and ways Logan had tried to talk to her, had tried to reach for more between them and she'd merely shut him down... well that just made her feel worse. Here he'd been legitimately seeking more from her than the Vegas agreement she'd clung to for so long, and she'd repeatedly used the fact that he had a fiancée, or that she'd had Paul, to drive him away.

She closed her eyes and sighed. Collapsing back against the couch she raised her shaking hands and pressed her fingers to her temples. Neither Logan nor Odette missed the tremors in her hands. "This is," she muttered quietly. "I don't even..."

"Rory are you okay?" Logan asked softly the concern that had prodded him at her refusal of coffee returning as he took her in - hands shaking, paler than usual skin, and a look of general exhaustion exuding from her. In his memory there were only a few times she'd look this worn, this downtrodden, and none of them had been good points in her life.

"Do the guys know?" Rory asked and lifted her eyes to look at Logan.

He frowned. "Finn does."

"But the others?"

"They know that Odette and I aren't anything more than friends." He admitted with a glance toward the other woman. "But we decided early on that the fewer people who knew all the salient details should be kept to a minimum."

"So why does Finn know?" Rory asked curiously and glanced to Odette, who she found smirking at Logan.

Logan rolled his eyes. "Finn knows because he took exception to the way I was treating you and showed up here one day demanding an explanation for what he described as my 'despicable behaviour towards Mother.' He told me I needed to choose, that it wasn't fair to you or to Odette. And that I was little better than Mitchum if I truly thought that I could get away with having both of you."

"He was in fine form that day." Odette admitted with a small laugh.

"It was the day after the engagement announcement appeared in the papers. He was, well, he was enraged in a way even I have never seen him." Logan admitted. "He loves you Ace, you know he loves you. I mean he was pissed when I gave you an ultimatum after Yale but this was something else."

He shook his head. "O and Rochelle came flying down the stairs while he was screaming at me in the foyer and, well let's just say we told him everything after he accused me of not only having you 'on the side' but forcing O to allow other women in our bed too."

"Why on earth would he think you were having a threesome? I know you were a playboy in college and I know that at some point threesomes were probably something all of you participated in, if only for the wicked fun of it, but why would he draw that conclusion?" Rory asked aghast at the accusation.

"Because Rochelle and O came flying down the stairs in hardly more than their underwear. I don't blame him for drawing the conclusion, it looked bad, it looked like exactly that." Now Logan smirked as he continued. "But I was nowhere near that bed. I'd been in my office working, and waiting for you to call me."

"I'm still sorry about that." Odette added with an apologetic glance at Logan before turning her attention back to Rory. "My father insisted that I spend the week here after the announcement came out but I needed to explain everything to Rochelle and she'd arrived earlier that evening. We'd been, uh, catching up when we heard Finn."

Rory thought back, trying to recall whether Finn's behaviour had changed toward her in the months after Logan's engagement had been announced. It wasn't often that she and Logan spent time together with the guys but there had been a couple occasions, not including that last night as they traipsed through New England. Finn had simply been Finn though - her favourite of the Lost Boys. The fun-loving, laid back, laissez faire man whom she knew, just as Logan intimated, loved her a little bit more than like a sister as the other guys did. She knew he looked out for her, a bit more than Colin or Robert ever did, and that he often worried about her when she travelled alone. Finn was the only one of the guys that she hadn't ceased contact with after Yale, for the most part they conversed through email, some text and a few Skype calls, but there had been a few times through the years that the two of them met up in one city or another, one country or another. Yet she hadn't seriously contemplated contacting Finn since she'd learned of the pregnancy. Not really, and not because she thought she'd never speak to him again, but because talking to Finn would have been reaching too close to Logan and she hadn't been ready for that.

Now she wondered what Finn would have done if she'd called and told him about the baby? Would he have insisted she contact Logan immediately, instead of putting off the trip as long as she had? Would he have told Logan himself? Would he have told her about the realities of Logan and Odette's engagement? And really, why hadn't he tried to tell her about their relationship before? Granted there had been a couple times when the subject of Logan came up in their talks and she'd very obviously and insistently turned the conversation in another direction. But had he been trying to broach the subject with her? Was that just one more instance where, if she hadn't been so blindly stubborn and sure that she had control of the situation, she would have learned the truth and been able to change things between them?

Of course after all this time and all the ways that she'd so completely rejected him and everything he was offering her, would Logan even be interested in having any kind of relationship with her? Even just a co-parenting one?

"Rory?" Logan said, concern flooded his voice and Rory realized he must have already called her name more than once.

"What?" she grimaced and then shook her head. "Sorry, my mind wandered."

Logan frowned and focused again on studying her. She didn't exactly look ill, though she was paler than normal. She looked tired. He looked at her eyes, saw the way they darted around as if she was anxious or nervous. He remembered the look on her face when he'd opened the front door and found her standing there. And further back, he remember the expressions that had passed over her face that morning in New Hampshire when she'd said goodbye.

He leaned forward and set his cup on the table. "I said I'm really surprised to see you here." He told her, repeating the words he'd spoken just moments before, and clasped his hands together. "Last time we spoke you were pretty determined to end things. You were adamant that we were over."

"I know." She replied and her eyes cast down to look at the pile of the rug beneath them. Her lips parted once as though she was going to continue but whatever she'd thought to say, she held back and she closed her mouth.

"So I can honestly say that I thought you'd make sure I never saw you again." Logan continued. "In fact we all thought that."

Her gaze still focused on the floor Rory took a deep breath. Released it. "I don't know if it would have been forever, never."

"But?" He prompted when again she didn't seem inclined to continue.

"She moved in here." The words rushed out and suddenly Rory found all kinds of things to say. Some were more difficult than others to voice, while yet others came as easily as breathing. It was like a cork being pulled from a bottle, then the bottle tipped… Words poured forth and Rory simply prayed that what spilled out made sense.

* * *

Like I said - just a little snippet of the evolving conversation.

Any thoughts?


	4. The Carousel of Hopes and Dreams

Thank you to everyone who has already commented on and reviewed _**Ever Changing Life**_. Every time I upload a new chapter I have to force myself to walk away from the computer (and my other devices) for a while. Otherwise I'd be constantly refreshing the page, just waiting for your reactions. And I can't tell you how giddy I get when I see some of your reviews - some simply make me smile, others nearly make me burst with pleasure. So truly, thank you for reading my story and thank you for continuing to tell me what you think of it!

I know I left things off in the last chapter at something of a critical point but the entire conversation is about to make a big shift. To this point we've really just heard from Logan and Odette about their relationship, or lack thereof. But now... now we get to hear what Rory has to say.

And of course you know: _I don't own _Gilmore Girls,_ the characters, settings, or established storyline. For your entertainment, and mine, I've merely borrowed them and built upon the foundations of what we all love so much. _

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 4: The Carousel of Hopes and Dreams**

"_But?" he prompted when again she didn't seem inclined to continue. _

"_She moved in here."_ Rory said in a rush and lifted her eyes, looked at Odette. "You moved in here and I thought, well that's that. They live together now. Next it'll be the wedding." She closed her eyes again for a brief second then shook her head. She looked at the pair of them and stood quickly to pace away from the couch. Odette shifted in her seat to follow Rory's movements as she walked again toward the windows. For a moment it seemed as if Rory wasn't going to say more but then she turned around and faced them.

"All of a sudden I was the other woman again. It wouldn't matter how long we'd been seeing each other Logan, or even what the reality of your relationship with Odette was, to everyone else it would be wrong. What we were doing suddenly felt wrong and, and it had never felt like that before." Rory finally burst out. The words, once they started just poured through her, poured from her, and in some ways even she was shocked by them. "And you know, _you know_ that 'the other woman' wasn't something that I ever aspired to be again. For so long I tried to tell myself that you were mine first, that I was with you first, but _it wouldn't matter. _A married man, Logan, even an unhappy or married-in-name-only man, is still a married man. I learned that lesson the hard way once, I didn't need an encore."

During her outburst Logan had leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees, hands clasped between his spread thighs. As she ran out of steam, he shook his head. "I wish you would have talked to me before. I wish you would have just let me explain about Odette and the engagement."

"So do I." Rory admitted with a shrug of her shoulders and turned back to the windows.

Odette glanced between the other two. She knew how upset Logan had been when he'd come back from the States and his last visit to Rory a few months ago. She knew how upset he still was, could see how sad he was becoming again. What Rory was saying now, she honestly wasn't sure what the woman's goal was because to her it certainly didn't sound like she was trying to make things better. She turned her gaze to Rory and saw the tightness of her shoulders, the way her hands clenched and fidgeted even with her arms crossed tightly in front of her. Odette wasn't sure whether she should stay or go but was almost worried to leave the two alone together - being in the same room as them together she could feel the palpable tension between them, practically feel the pain and sorrow in the air.

Just when she thought she may need to speak, to prompt more from Rory, or from Logan, the other woman spoke.

"From the time I was a small child I had a dream, a plan. And I came to believe with everything in me that if I just focused on that, worked at that, dedicated myself to that plan then I would achieve the dream. I would reach that pinnacle because I'd have done everything necessary to deserve it. I would get the big and shiny, important and amazing job. I would prove to everyone that it didn't matter who I was, or what I was, or how I was raised. I _deserved_ the fabulous career. I deserved the amazing life." Rory sedately explained as she stared out the window watching the rain. Odette and Logan glanced at one another with frowns and then Logan shifted in his seat and locked his gaze on Rory.

"It never really crossed my mind how strange it was. It never truly sunk into my head, not even when the rare person would express shock, or concern, or bare curiosity, that a grade-schooler was announcing they were going to be an overseas correspondent. Not just a journalist, not even simply an anchor, but specifically an overseas correspondent like Amanpour. I never clued in that having such a precisely detailed plan for how to achieve that gold-star goal was perhaps a little far-fetched for someone barely in middle school. And there were never any back-ups considered. There was no room for detours, or breaks, or personal crisis'." The last was muttered with something almost resembling a chuckle. "It wasn't until I started writing my book that I began to see the true ridiculousness of it. It had to be Harvard and it had to be correspondence."

"Lorelai wanted you to reach for greatness." Logan said softly.

Rory shook her head without looking at him but said, "Yes, that's true. She wanted greatness for me. She wanted me to reach the highest of heights, for me to be the very creme-de-la-creme of journalists. The absolute best. She wanted that for me because she couldn't reach that high. Her choice to have me, to escape from Hartford society, to cut herself off from my grandparents, it all but ensured she'd never have the amazing future she'd spent the first 16 years of her life being told she'd have. The life she'd been told she deserved. I don't know when or how exactly all those dreams of excellence for herself shifted to me. I'm not sure she even realized the pressure she put on me to be more than her, to achieve more than she did. I can't even blame her for it. Not really. Everyone told her she was making a mistake by having me. Or if not in simply having me than the mistake was not marrying my dad, or in running away. But she saw her out, you know, and she wasn't going to let it go for anything."

She was quiet again for a few moments and Logan watched the subtle movement of her shoulders with each breath. Her back was to him and for those brief moments he just soaked her in. Somehow, he could smell her, even though she was all the way across the room, and combined with the sight of her, it was a balm to his soul. He certainly wasn't a fanciful man but just having her in the room - seeing her, smelling her, hearing her voice - it had something in him settling, made it feel as though pieces of himself that had been shaking loose inside were now firming back into place. When she spoke again, he nearly blinked at the feeling.

"It wasn't just her though, so I _really_ can't blame her. My grandparents, my dad, his parents, everyone in Stars Hollow, for one reason or another they all expected me to be this perfect child, this paragon of achievement. Everyone. So, I believed it; I believed I had to do it, had to achieve everything they wanted for me. And the only way to do that was to follow the plan, follow the examples that were constantly held up as the perfect models to follow." She breathed deeply, then with a shake of her head turned to face the couple who were watching and listening to her so intently.

Her face was composed. There were no visible signs of anger or upset, no display of despair or despondency at the facts she related. Her tone and features indicated that this was something she'd spent considerable time pondering and had come to accept the way things were. Yet, her words brought a new, vague discomfort to Logan. On one hand she wasn't telling him anything that he didn't already know - her plan growing up, her career aspirations, the high expectations that the Gilmores and Lorelai had for her... Hearing her words now though, he realized that much as his own father's very specific expectations for Logan's career had always seemed very limiting, so too were the grand hopes that Rory's family had had for her. Even if those dreams were ones that she'd fully embraced for herself. He wondered, and worried how her recent realizations were truly affecting her, how she was fitting these new truths into the rest.

"I followed the plan. There were bumps and challenges along the way because life is so seldom a smooth road, but for the most part I focused on the plan and I stuck to it as close as I could." A frown flitted across her expression before she continued. "Honestly, after a while it was easier to just go with the flow, simpler to keep moving forward step by step. So much easier to keep working toward that ultimate goal than it was to try and redirect it. It was easier to keep aspects of my personal life to myself. Far simpler to keep them completely private, even secret when necessary, than it would have been to try and explain them as part of the whole picture." Rory sighed and strolled back over to the couch. Once settled back in her seat she reached again for her tea and sipped.

"I had a decent career, but I've finally accepted that I was never going to reach the heights I was seeking. Not because I wasn't good. Not because I couldn't write. Not even because I didn't have the drive. The problem is that the journalistic world all those models I had molded my career by, is gone. The era they excelled in has long since passed and journalism is now largely dominated by digital media and online readership. I'm not saying that there aren't still and won't continue to be overseas correspondents, there are and there will be. It's a world of BuzzFeeds and SandeeSays clickbait's now though, and that's simply not how I'm built." She admitted this as simply and as smoothly as she'd spoken the rest of her story. He knew her though and knew that truth hurt. This truth would hurt her more than she let on.

"When I started the book, I thought I was going to be telling a story about drive, about ambition, will, work and dedication. There would be love - a mother for a daughter, a daughter for her semi-estranged grandparents. There would be disappointment, pitfalls, detours. But the truth is once I really got into it, once I started making all these realizations and then started really thinking about my life, the book became something else entirely. It's still based on my childhood, my life growing up, and my relationship with my mom. But it's more now, and it's become something much different." She explained with a smile beginning to turn her lips.

"You're writing it as a novel." He realized and the words slipped from him with hardly any surprise or conscious thought. She laughed and the sound of it touched something deep within him, smoothed a bit of the worry that had been slowly filling his mind for her since he'd opened his front door and discovered her standing there.

She nodded. "I'm writing it as a novel. And believe me when I say those are words, I never thought would pass my lips."

"Well I think it'll be great!" Logan enthused. "Makes a hell of a lot sense too. The world's biggest reader of literature turning to writing it."

"You figured that out far more quickly than I did." She shared. "But the book isn't why I came. It helped me realize a lot of things though, helped me figure some things out."

He nodded his understanding and waited for her to continue, watched as she sipped again from the teacup.

"One of the things that I came to realize was that I was lonely. The life I was leading, had been leading was practically designed to be a lonely one. There was no part of that plan focused on having a partner; there was no consideration for a family. Love was… absent. I mean, I could love my mother and Luke, my grandparents. Of course, I could love my job but that was about it." She explained her sight focused inward. "I think when Grandpa died, subconsciously I started to realize that eventually there would be nothing left to love but the job. I might reach the end of days having achieved all the things I set out to do, but what would I truly have to show for it?"

She shifted on her seat, turned slightly and refocused on Logan and Odette. "I would sit in his office writing, immersed in his things, in the only room in that house that has remained untouched since his death. I would sit there Logan, and I would think to myself: who would really miss me when I was gone? Where was my Emily - closing in and grieving so deeply that months later, even years later, there would be days they just wouldn't bother getting out of bed? Where was my Lorelai - emotionally stunted nearly all her life and still breaking apart at his death? Who was my Rory? Where was the young person who looked up to and admired me, who wanted nothing more than for me to be proud of them? What would be my legacy and who would even be there to remember it?"

"Rory," Logan said softly, the timber of his voice low and serious. "So many people love you."

"Maybe." She agreed with a small shrug and barely noticeable quirk of the lips.

"No." He interrupted while shifting in his seat, leaning toward her. "There _are_ so many people who love you. Lane and her boys. Paris and Doyle, the kids. The guys. Your parents." He paused to take in the expression on her face. "Maybe you can't see the impact you've had on all of their lives, the importance of it, but all of us can. I can."

Rory dropped her gaze and sighed. "I do know that," she began but her words stalled out before she finished the thought.

Again, Odette glanced between Logan and Rory - Logan's attention intent on Rory and her mind seemingly somewhere beyond the room. She considered all she'd seen of this woman Logan loved so deeply and the words she'd spoken, trying to piece together some understanding of her thoughts, trying to figure out why she'd suddenly reappeared in Logan's life after determinedly leaving it just months earlier. The picture that was beginning to form in her mind, the possibilities that were beginning to take shape in her thoughts though, they only served to make Odette hurt on Logan's behalf.

"You speak of 'legacy'," Odette began. "You say it in such a way that reminds me of my father. Placing such importance on what you leave behind instead of focusing on what you do now, on the people in your life. What my father is doing to me - all in the name of his _legacy_ \- is cruel. What he pictures for himself, it is not the thing people will remember of him, because what we take of others' lives is the affect they have on our own. That's what we leave behind. Our actions, our love, and people's memories of them, _that_ is the true legacy."

"I know that Odette, I do," Rory met her gaze. "Believe me when I say that I know it's how we act and behave every single day of our lives that is more important than the actions of a single event. It's the myriad facets of our every day's that builds our character, that shapes the mold of our lives, that defines us. Those single events and the culmination of them, they're like the landmarks in our lives. They highlight aspects of us for good or ill, but they aren't the whole story, even if we are, fortunately or unfortunately, remembered most frequently for them. Your father may have done hundreds, even thousands of good things in his life, but his despicable behaviour toward you in this situation can overshadow all of that. For you, and if you choose, for others as well. How you react, how you behave, it simply becomes one of the aspects of your own legacy."

Rory swallowed and her brow furrowed briefly as she considered her next words. "When I talked of my legacy, of course I meant the memories of me that would carry on, but - and you're right Logan," she redirected her gaze to him for a moment. "I do have people who love me, I've always been lucky there - but they all have their own lives and families, and however much they care for me, I am and always have been on the periphery of those lives. For those to whom I'm part of the core of their life, whom I hold at the core of mine, that circle is small."

"You're talking about family." Odette surmises, her anger fading.

"Yes," Rory nodded. "I've got my grandmas, my mom, my dad. My step-dad. I have a step-sister I see maybe once a year, and a half-sister I barely know. And that's it. That's the whole of my family. Seven people, half of which have had very little to do with my life thus far. And I know I should be grateful because some people don't have even that much, and yet-" she cut off the flow of her words on am unsteady breath.

"You want more." Odette finished.

"I never actually thought about it. Honestly just never considered it. It wasn't in the plan and if I did fantasize about a partner, a husband, well, it never moved further on to kids. Even my fantasies were short-sighted." Rory admitted. "And when my friends had kids, I never looked at their babies and thought to myself 'I want one of those.' It's never been something that I yearned for."

Odette studied Rory's face, watched as she spoke and the picture that had begun to take shape within her mind became more sharply formed, the possibilities narrowed.

"Now you do want a child." She guessed.

Rory bit her lip and considered her words; she shifted her gaze back to Logan's before she spoke. "It's more complicated than that, but yes. I do."

Logan stared at her in shocked silence for nearly a full minute before releasing a long pent up breath. "Now? After all this time, all these years? After making it clear that you no longer want anything to do with me. Rory, now you want more? You want to have a kid?" He saw Rory flinch as his words hit her like missiles. "And you came here to do what Rory? Make me a pitch and hope that I help you out with your wish?"

"No," Rory replied to the harshly snapped questions.

"Then what?" He demanded and now he rose to pace around the room. "You've always done your own thing, always had your plan, so what's your plan here Rory? Two and a half months ago you seemed pretty clear that whatever you wanted for your life, it wasn't me. Now you're saying you've decided you want a baby and you're here, sitting in front of me, obviously nervous about whatever insane idea you're about to explain so— what? What could you possibly have to say to me now?"

With every word that burst from Logan's mouth Odette watched as Rory paled further, as she withdrew into herself, as she tensed. In the silence that fell after his final question, it seemed to Odette that Rory was fragile beyond anything she'd seen before. Yet she knew the woman before her had hidden strengths.

"Maybe this was a mistake after all." Rory finally said quietly in soft tones.

Logan clenched his jaw against anything more coming from his lips.

"When did you begin writing your book?" Odette redirected Rory's attention away from Logan for the moment.

"I'm sorry, what?" Rory asked confused.

"Your book," Odette questioned, "when did you start working on it?"

Rory frowned. "Sometime in August, I guess. Mostly in little bits and pieces at first while I tried to get a feel for the different style of writing, and while I tried to decide what I wanted to tell. I guess I'd really just begun to dive into the story the last time, well, the last time Logan and the guys visited me."

"So, by then you had probably already made many of those realizations you told us about earlier - how the journalism world simply wasn't for you anymore, and how familial expectations had largely formed the plan you'd lived your life by. Maybe you'd even begun to realize the things your life was missing because of the way you'd been living." Odette summarized the earlier conversation while Logan took the moment to calm down and gave Rory a chance to find the words she needed to say. "Not all of it I'm sure. But enough that when you saw Logan that last time, instead of simply seeing the man you'd loved all those years, you saw a man who was engaged to another woman, one whom you'd been informed had moved in with him. You looked at him and saw a man who was supposedly committed to building a future with someone else. And so there you were again on that periphery you mentioned. Letting him go, walking away from him, it was so you could move on and find your own future, because as far as you could see, there wasn't one with him."

"Yes." Rory finally replied after a few shaky breaths. She looked at Logan but quickly glanced away. "I'd already begun to figure out I wanted more than what I had." She looked at Logan again. "I realize now that when I asked if you were really going to marry her you didn't say yes, but you didn't tell me no either. You said-"

"'That's the Dynastic Plan.'" Logan finished and he let out a huge sigh as he closed his eyes and rubbed his hand over his face.

A small sad smile appeared on her face. "Yeah."

He came back around the couch and sat, practically falling back into the cushions. "It seemed the simplest answer at the time. Rory, you just never wanted to hear anything about Odette or our relationship. And I just, I didn't want to fight with you that night."

"I know." Rory answered softly. Sighed. "In the past few weeks I've come to understand that you gave me any number of opportunities to ask more, to stake my own claim. You certainly offered more of yourself to me, time and time again. I'm the one who didn't see that for what it was. But whether I _couldn't_ see it, or whether I wasn't _willing_ to see it I don't know. I've tried to figure that out, but I honestly just don't know."

"Rory why are you here?" He asked again but this time his voice was simply tired. Rory could see the fatigue in his eyes, and now that she was looking closely, she could see the stirring of pain. Pain she was causing him. She closed her eyes briefly, then opened them and focused on him again.

"In part, I came to apologize." She admitted. "I know that I've hurt you through the years and I realize that even though I hurt you, you were still there whenever I needed you. It was something of a jolt to really understand that you've loved me far better than I deserved all these years, and much better than I was giving you in return."

"Ace," he whispered and that soft word sent another jolt through her because it was the first time he'd called her by the moniker that day.

She squeezed her eyes shut but forged on. "I am sorry Logan. I never actually stopped loving you, it just hurt so much. Being with you, loving you, and trying to follow the plan. The pieces just didn't go together right. And I know that's not fair to you - you never did anything but support me and my dreams."

He frowned, "And now the dream, the plan, has changed."

"No. Well, I mean yes the dream has changed. The plan too. But, it's more that I realized it wasn't fair to you because it shouldn't have mattered what the dream was, or what the plan was. Not if the cost was a chance at a real life with you." She explained.

"So what are you saying?" Logan asked.

"I'm saying I'm sorry." She said simply. "I'm sorry that I spent so long giving more importance to what I did in my life and with it, than I did to the people I spent it with. It's what I was saying before about legacy: what you do with your life day-to-day is important. What you do in the big moments has its importance too. But it's the people who will remember you that are the most important. I forgot that somewhere along the way and because I did, I hurt you, which I never wanted to do. So, I'm sorry."

Logan stared at her silently for a minute. Looking at her and considering all she'd admitted. Eventually he sighed deeply and again leaned forward to brace his elbows on his knees. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry too." He shrugged. "I should have pushed harder to tell you everything about Odette and our plan. I should have tried harder to make sure that you understood that all these years, all I've wanted was you. I wouldn't have cared if you were a world class journalist, a novelist, or a barista, so long as you were happy."

Rory swiped away a tear the slipped down her cheek with his words and nodded.

Odette watched the two take a much-needed moment to regroup but then, "What is the other part?"

"What?" Logan asked, his confusion evident. Rory sighed.

"She said, 'in part,' she came to apologize," Odette repeated the earlier admission. "So, if that was only part of her reason for coming, I want to know what the other part is."

"Wasn't this enough?" Logan questioned, riled. "That's more truth and more honest emotion than she's shared with me in a really long time, O, there's no reason to push things now."

"Maybe that's true," Odette agreed easily then nodded in Rory's direction. "But she's here now, best you get all of it."

"She's right." Rory sighed and met Logan's gaze when he turned to her. He stared; his teeth clenched for a long moment before she saw the muscles of his jaw relax.

"Okay." He said with a nod.

"Okay." She repeated and then focused inward for a minute to sort out what to say next. "My mom and Luke got married the first week of November. The event itself isn't important here except as a point of reference. After you came to see me the last time, I was splitting my time between Lane's couch, Paris's, and the Hartford house. Mostly I was in Hartford, writing. I was absorbed in the story. One day I looked at the calendar and realized it had been well over a month since I'd had an actual conversation with my mother. Even though I'd been in Stars Hollow a couple times a week, I hadn't even seen my mother in nearly six weeks. Then I got an email from her informing me that she and Luke were getting married the next weekend, and she wanted me to come home for the celebration."

"'Come home for the celebration.' That's actually how she said it." She shrugged as if it didn't matter but Logan heard the frustration in her voice. "On one hand I was ecstatic for her, I mean it's Luke. It's her and Luke, and that's fabulous. But on the other hand, I couldn't help but feel a little unsettled, jealous even. It didn't make a lot of sense, but the feeling was there. I mean, they've been together since shortly after I graduated. He lives in her house and has for years. Yet for all that, they've essentially led separate lives. Mom has The Dragonfly, Luke has the diner. Mom would let Grandma drag her to the occasional Hartford event or would meet me somewhere while I was working. Luke would go fishing, or camping, or go off somewhere to see April. They seemed good, solid, so I wondered what marriage would really change at this point in their lives. And I wondered how marriage would change the dynamic for me in their lives. I also realized I had no real idea what their life together was like when I wasn't around, because when I was, Mom always just focused on me."

Rory got up again and wandered back to the window. "I'd already been doing a lot of thinking about finding a place of my own, moving back out of my mother's house. But her announcement that she and Luke were getting married made me realize that I had to figure things out and quickly. Seriously thinking about finding my own place meant that sooner or later, I was going to need to track down all the boxes of my things. Which was about when I really noticed it had been a month since your visit."

She was quiet for another minute gazing out the window and they watched as her shoulders rose and fell with a deep breath. "It amazed me that it had been a month and I'd been so intent on my writing, on the crafting of the story, that I'd barely noticed. I didn't notice the passage of time. I hardly paid attention to what day of the week it was, or the time of day. When I did finally compute how long it had actually been it was like being jolted awake from a deep sleep. It had been a whole month."

"I knew right away that I would have decisions to make but in a lot of ways I was stuck at that comprehension. Understanding, acceptance even, they were much harder to come by. And time ticked on. Mom got married. I moved my things out of her house. I spent some time with Dad. Eventually I knew what I wanted. Not everything but one narrow facet of what I wanted for the future was right there in perfect clarity." She paused again, and again they watched the movement of her shoulders, could tell she was gripping her hands together in front of her.

"A child?" Logan wondered aloud in confusion, thinking back to her earlier admission that she did in fact want to have one.

They heard her sigh and Odette felt a rush of feeling go through her as she understood, at last, where the rambling, seemingly random conversational path was headed. "Your child, and Logan's." She whispered but the words were heard by both the other occupants of the room.

"You can't have come here to ask me to help you get pregnant! You can't honestly believe that I would agree and then walk away once the deed was done?" He demanded shocked and then fell back in stupefied silence when Rory spun away from the window and rushed back in their direction, anger colouring her face and every carefully modulated word that came from her mouth.

"No, I did not come here to ask you to get me pregnant. I'm not an imbecile." She quietly raged. "When I knocked on your door today, I thought you were happy in your relationship with Odette, or resigned to it, or whatever. I thought you were getting married in a few months or in a year, or sometime in the near future. I didn't come here to _ask_ anything of you."

"Then what?" He begged.

"I came to tell you that I'm already pregnant." She said loudly, her voice still marred with the anger he'd stirred in her.

"What?" He breathed.

"I looked at the calendar that day and realized it'd been a month since I'd seen you, but I hadn't had a period since before you'd been there." She took a deep breath and released it in shaky measure. "It was after two in the morning but I went out right then and found a 24-hour store so I could get a test. I took it as soon as I got back to the house and it was positive. Later that morning I drove to Boston, to an OB/GYN who my research told me was very nearly as good as Paris. I didn't want to go to her, didn't want to hear yet what she'd have to say about it. I managed to get in and the testing there was positive again."

He was very nearly undone by her words but managed to push up off the couch and gain his feet. To utter her name once, twice.

"I didn't come to ask you for anything. I came to tell you that I'm pregnant." Saying the words to him turned out to be easier the second time. "I came because you deserve to have the same choices that I had. To choose whether to be involved in the baby's life, or not. To choose how much or in what way you may want to be involved. And I guess, maybe, there was a small part of me that hoped that if you weren't happy with Odette or weren't completely resigned to a future with her, that the news would give you, I don't know, an out - the way having me gave my mom hers."

"Rory," he said again and took a couple steps in her direction.

"I don't-" she started to say but broke off to take a shaky breath. "I don't expect anything from you. We'll be okay. But you deserved to know. You deserve to choose for yourself."

He took a few strides until he stood directly in front of her, and slowly lifted his hands to cup her cheeks. "Thank you." He told her and she felt the tremor of emotion that shook him through his fingers. "I know you could have kept it to yourself, or made a different choice altogether, so thank you. Thank you for coming all the way here to tell me, you didn't have to do that either."

She gave him that small, sad smile again, and this time he returned it. They stood like that, silently staring at one another for another long moment, then he turned his head to look at Odette. Rory followed his gaze and they discovered the other woman smiling through tears that streamed down her face.

"How quickly can we call this thing off O?" He asked the other woman as his own smile began to grow. "I've got a really good reason."

"No, you won't take the blame for this on you." Odette told him and she rose to join them where they stood. "We will tell your father what we always intended to tell him—that I am a lesbian and have my own lover. I don't think your father will be nearly as disappointed with all of this as you may expect."

He gave a breathy laugh of surprise. "I think you underestimate how easily disappointed in me my father can be."

* * *

While I've got you here, I also wanted to let you know that since I've got this entire story written - I'm just doing chapter edits before posting each one - I **WILL** be updating _**Ever Changing Life**_ on a regular basis. You'll very likely see 2-3 chapters a week, with the final chapter being published before Christmas! In the meantime, I've actually begun working on an _ECL_ Christmas story that (fingers crossed) I'll be putting up as something of a Christmas gift to all of you as well! [in case you were wondering]

_*peeks through fingers*_

Okay, okay. So now Logan knows.

What do you think?


	5. Closing The Book On That One

As always, I'll start off today by once again saying a very big THANK YOU to everyone who has taken the time to review/comment after reading the previous chapters. I'm so very grateful that everyone is enjoying _**Ever Changing Life **_so far. And I truly hope each of you will continue to like the story as I continue.

That said, the story is moving along and now Logan has some explaining to do.

Please remember: _I've__ never owned any part of _Gilmore Girls, _it's characters, it's settings, or it's established storyline. For pure entertainment purposes only, I've borrowed the _Gilmore Girls _world and picked up the story where it was left off. No copyright infringement or offence is intended._

* * *

**Chapter 5: Closing The Book On That One**

"You're joking right?" The deep voice with it's harsh tone was one that Logan had simply come to expect from his father. "You can't be serious."

"Of course, I'm serious, Dad. I wouldn't put myself in front of you and tell you something that I know is going to piss you off, unless I was completely serious." Logan told him, sardonic and sarcastic all at once.

Mitchum stared at him, his emotions masked by a flat expression. "You can't just call off the wedding, Logan. You've signed agreements, contracts."

"No," Logan corrected, "You sent us the pre-nup. We never signed it."

"What? It's been well over a month since the lawyers finished going through the contract and cleared it for you to sign." Mitchum said. "That's more than a little irresponsible."

"Irresponsible?" Logan echoed. "Did you even read it?"

"No," his father answered with a shrug. "That's what the lawyers are for. I told them to make sure that the business was protected, and they said it was."

Logan shook his head and had to refrain from rolling his eyes. "Yes, HPG was well protected. No matter what may have happened, the business was essentially untouchable."

"So, then what was the problem?" Mitchum asked.

"So many things Dad. That pre-nup was a joke." Logan explained. "Except there would have been nothing funny about it, had we signed it. The thing practically laid out what was 'acceptable behaviour' and her every movement for the rest of Odette's life. The type of people she was allowed to interact with, the type of work she was allowed to do, when she was expected to have children - there was even a clause in there listing acceptable name suggestions for any children she had. The entire thing was designed to give Jacques complete control over every aspect of her life, indefinitely. Even if we were going to get married, we would not be signing that pre-nup."

"I had no idea." Mitchum responded quietly after nearly a full minute of silence.

"Well now you do." Logan muttered.

Mitchum sighed. "Logan—"

"But that farce of a pre-nup has nothing to do with why we aren't getting married." Logan continued firmly.

"Then what, Logan?" The older man asked. "You can't just walk in here and announce you're calling off the wedding without explanation. Do you have any idea how much your mother and Margot have already planned?"

Now Logan did roll his eyes. "I'm not sure why mom and Margot would have been doing any planning. We've repeatedly told them that until we gave them a date, they would be wasting their time."

"That still explains nothing."

"I know it must be vastly disappointing that your grand matrimonial plans are foiled." Logan shot out, something of the obstinate youth he once was breaking through to the present. "The plain fact is that we don't want to be married to each other."

"Logan," Mitchum said on a long exhale of breath. "If you didn't want to be married to Odette, why did you propose?"

"What?" Logan asked, his surprise clearly evident in the word and the expression on his face.

Frowning, his father practically grunted. "Must I really repeat myself."

"I didn't propose to her." Logan told him baldly.

"What?" Mitchum echoed Logan's previous surprise in tone and expression. He shook his head. "What do you mean you didn't propose?"

"Just what I said. I. Didn't. Propose." Logan explained. "Jacques and Margot invited me to their vineyard chalet for the weekend. I didn't get in until late Friday night as I was coming straight there on a flight back from New York. The next morning at brunch Jacques handed me his mother's wedding set. He told us - Odette and Margot were sitting right there with us - that he'd already had the ring resized for Odette and that I was to give it to her by the end of the weekend, as you would be running the engagement announcement in all our papers the next day. Which you did. I never asked. She never answered."

"That doesn't make any sense Logan," Mitchum replied baffled. "Margot called your mother earlier that week. She said you'd called Jacques and asked him for permission to marry Odette. Your mother rhapsodized over her story about how you discussed your plan with them for asking Odette to marry you at the chalet, because you knew it was her favourite property."

"The only thing true in that statement is that the chalet is Odette's favourite of her family's properties." Logan said in monotone.

Mitchum frowned. "I just don't understand any of this. Why would she lie?"

"I don't know, but all things considered," Logan told him, "I imagine it was either to pave the way for Jacques' plan for the weekend and she was complicit, or Jacques lied to her and she was an unwitting accomplice. Either way, it doesn't change the fact that neither Odette or I ever had any intention of marrying."

"The engagement was announced more than a year and a half ago," Mitchum said, his frown deepening. "If neither of you had any plans to go through with it, why allow the farce to continue so long?"

"We had our reasons," was all Logan replied with. Though he doubted his father would let it go at that, Logan still held out a shred of hope that given what he'd already revealed of the situation, Mitchum wouldn't press for more answers. His hopes, however, were dashed with Mitchum's next words.

"That's not good enough, Logan." Oh, how many times had he heard those words issued forth in his father's no nonsense, commanding voice?

"Does why really matter?" Logan asked.

"The two of you have spent the past year and more, acting as if you were getting married. You've spent holidays with one another, you've gone on vacations together, and you've spent time with each others families." Mitchum argued. "Damn right, _why_ matters."

"Because we don't love one another." Logan said simply. He had no desire to explain to his father that those holidays and vacations they'd supposedly spent together had actually been spent separately and, more often than not, with their own partners.

"So?" Mitchum responded. "Love hardly matters in our circles."

"Because we can't love one another." Logan continued firmly.

"I so hate to repeat myself Logan." Mitchum grumbled.

Logan shook his head and huffed out a breath. "Just because love means nothing to you, and just because marriages of convenience are still common in our circles, does not mean that either Odette or myself intends to marry without it."

"Be realistic, Logan." Mitchum told him and Logan could hear the older man's self-importance in the tone he used.

"I am being realistic." Logan interrupted before his father could say more. "I don't want to marry anyone unless I love them, and unless they love me back. I don't want to tie my life to one woman and spend the rest of that life going from bed to bed, or from woman to woman for my pleasure. I want to mean the vows when I say them."

"People like us don't marry for love, son." His father said and Logan felt the words like body blows.

"No," Logan argued, "People like you don't marry for love. God knows you didn't."

They sat staring at one another for several long minutes in silence. Logan knew he'd pushed his father temper with his last statement, perhaps further than he'd ever done before. He watched expression flow into Mitchum's face, saw emotion fill his eyes for a moment, then the mask he was well acquainted with snapped back into place.

"I care for your mother." Mitchum said simply and let a few breaths of time pass before continuing. "Is this because of Rory?"

Logan frowned at the question, puzzled by what _exactly_ his father meant by it. "Is what because of Rory?"

"Your refusal to marry Odette." Mitchum clarified. "Is it because of Rory?"

"Dad, regardless of whether Rory is or isn't in my life, Odette and I would never be getting married." Logan said.

"But Rory is in your life, as my running in to the two of you having lunch together in the spring testifies to." Mitchum suggested.

He scoffed. "Rory was in town, attempting to work on a book proposal with Naomi Shropshire, in the spring."

"Are you saying that Rory isn't in your life?" His father questioned.

"I'm saying that Rory has nothing to do with why Odette and I aren't getting married." Logan snapped.

"Then why?" Mitchum snarled. "The girl is damn near perfect for you!"

"She's a lesbian." Logan finally answered flatly.

"I beg your pardon?" Mitchum shouted and Logan figured he couldn't have shocked the man more if he'd shoved a taser in his father's face.

Logan repeated, again flatly. "Odette is a lesbian. Her girlfriend lives in Paris and works with the UN as a French Embassy liaison. They've been together for nearly four years."

"Did you know this when you began seeing each other? When Jacques effectively engaged you to her?" Mitchum fired the questions at him rapidly. "Have you known this all along?"

"That she was gay was one of the first things about herself Odette ever told me." Logan admitted. "I've always known. And we were never seeing each other, Dad. We were acquaintances that could fend off the poor matchmaking attempts of our parents by accompanying one another to various events, and by being seen together at particular parties."

"So, your whole relationship was a charade?" Mitchum questioned, beginning to realize how effectively the pair had fooled them all.

"Yes," Logan replied, sighed. "And no. At first it was a ruse that we concocted. But the engagement, having Odette move to London and in with me, that was all Jacques, or Jacques and Margot."

"I still don't understand why Jacques and Margot would do this?" Mitchum said bafflement obvious in every word.

Logan laughed. "Because they know. They know she's a lesbian and they don't approve. At all."

"But what would they have to gain by marrying her off to you? And why you of all people?" His father asked.

And Logan laughed harder. "For someone with his roots as firmly enmeshed in the high society, correct world of Hartford, Connecticut as you have them, I would think that what they'd gain would be obvious. As to why me? You and mom have made no secret, either side of the Atlantic, that you'd do just about anything to get me married to someone you approve of. I was practically a dream come true for them."

Mitchum frowned at Logans laughter and at the truth in his explanation. "Why'd you go along with it?"

"Odette asked me to." Logan said simply then slumped back in his chair and sighed. "And I had no reason not to."

"But Rory—" Mitchum began, only to be cut off.

"Rory and I had an agreement." Logan said, his voice once again transitioning into the flat monosyllables he'd used to previously explain Odette's sexual preferences.

"Had?" Mitchum questioned the word usage.

"It's complicated." Logan answered briefly.

Brows raised, Mitchum chuckled sardonically. "Where Rory's concerned, when isn't it complicated?"

Logan shrugged and shook his head. "I'm not sure I want to get in to all that right now."

"But there's something to get in to?" He questioned.

"Dad," Logan said tiredly.

"When was the last time you saw Rory, Logan?" Mitchum asked, curious now due to the evasion, or reprieve Logan was attempting.

Logan sighed, waited a minute, shifted in his seat. "She was here earlier this week. Her flight back to the States left the night before last."

"So you saw her while she was in London, then?" Mitchum asked in clarification.

"She ended up staying at the apartment for a couple days before she left." Logan admitted.

"And now you're calling off your engagement to Odette." Mitchum repeated.

"Sooner or later, I would always have been calling off my engagement to Odette, Dad." Logan informed him. "That was just a matter of time."

Again Mitchum frowned, thoughtfully studying his only son. "Yet seeing Rory escalated the timeline somehow." Logan remained silent. "Why?"

"Dad," Logan started, pinching the bridge of his nose in weariness.

"Why, Logan?" Mitchum repeated.

Then the tables turned and it was Logan's turn to study his father, brows furrowed in thought, lips frowning as though what he was thinking, or what he saw when he looked at Mitchum didn't meet his approval. But eventually Logan sighed, again, and answered. "Rory's pregnant."

He leaned back in his chair. To say that Logan's answer shocked Mitchum would be an understatement. "Did she come to you making demands?" He asked.

"Demands?" Logan repeated the single word and shook his head at his father. "You've met Rory Gilmore. Do you really think she came here to demand anything of me?"

"So then, what did she want?" Mitchum rephrased.

Logan laughed and pushed up out of his seat to pace, frustration beginning to burn through him again. "Nothing. She didn't come to ask for a single thing." Logan told him. "She said she came to tell me about the pregnancy. But two days of conversation later, and I still don't know what she wants now."

"Logan—" Mitchum said softly but Logan couldn't hear him over the beat of his own blood in his ears.

"For nearly five years we played at having a casual arrangement. She wanted the freedom to come and go, to be able to follow whatever story met her fancy, and I had already made the mistake once of demanding more from her than she was ready or willing to give. I knew she'd cut herself out of my life completely, and in a heartbeat, if I gave any indication that what I really wanted was all of her." Logan ranted mindlessly. "Then, regardless of the fact that she'd never once let me really explain anything about mine and Odette's fake engagement and relationship, she tells me that she can't be with me anymore when I mentioned Odette had moved into the apartment."

"So, Rory didn't have any idea that you and Odette weren't really a couple?" Mitchum asked, though he wasn't entirely certain Logan was capable of hearing him right then.

"Rory didn't want to know the reality of our relationship. Any time I brought it up she would very deliberately change the subject to something else and remind me that she and I were casual." Logan surprised him by answering. "Everything started to implode after Richard died last fall but, I guess you could say, Odette moving here was the final straw."

"But Odette made the move in August." Mitchum commented. "Surely Rory's not, what, five months pregnant already?"

"No, she's not quite that far along yet." Logan answered and paused to stand behind the chair in which he'd previously been sitting. "I flew to the States near the end of September to see Rory. She's just in to the second trimester now."

"Logan," Mitchum said again but stalled out at the look of anguish on Logan's face.

"You have no idea how many times I've thought about Rory and I having kids through the years." Logan told him and Mitchum could hear the anguish too. "I never once imagined that her announcing she's pregnant would be followed up with the statement that she didn't need anything from me. Or that I could be as involved or uninvolved as I wanted because she'd be just fine either way."

Mitchum waited half a beat and then said, "I'm sure she didn't mean it the way it sounded."

"That's the thing," Logan muttered and resumed his pacing. "She does mean it. She's Lorelai Gilmore's daughter and she's had the number one best example of not needing a goddamn thing from her child's father."

"The situation between Lorelai and Christopher can hardly be compared to you and Rory." Mitchum argued. "They were teenagers for Christs' sake."

Logan nodded but didn't meet Mitchum's gaze again. "They were teenagers. Teenagers, Dad. And Lorelai still took off and raised Rory all on her own, with little to no help from Christopher, or from either of their parents."

"Well obviously that's not the case for Rory." Mitchum said and Logan's eyes slashed in his direction, the question in them implied but unvoiced. "Lorelai and Christopher may not agree with the fact that she's single and pregnant, but I think both of them would give her all the support they themselves never received from their parents. And the fact is she's a thirty-two-year-old, Ivy League educated woman. It may require her to adjust her own expectations of life but she's certainly capable of raising a child on her own."

"Why am I not surprised you're on her side?" Logan muttered angrily.

"I'm not on her side Logan." Mitchum responded gruffly. "I am merely stating the facts, as well as my own conclusions based on what little I know of her parent's situation from years ago."

"And yet, I'm not sure that puts you on my side Dad." Logan said.

Mitchum frowned again and Logan was reminded of all the times in his youth that that look of disappointment was aimed toward him. "Of course, I'm on your side Logan. That doesn't mean I can't see her side of the situation too."

"How is that supposed to help me?" Logan asked. His pacing had paused again, and he faced his father across the wide desk.

"She said she didn't need you, that she _could_ care for the child on her own. But did she say she didn't want you? Did she say she didn't want to raise the child with you?" Mitchum questioned and he watched Logan consider his questions. From everything he knew of Rory, he knew that she was big on choice, and that she believed utmost in the bond of family, and the responsibility family members had to care for one another. And if there was one thing Mitchum knew about Logan, it was that when there was something he wanted, nothing would stand in his way. "Suppose she simply wants you to choose for yourself, Logan?"

"I want her. And _of course_ I want our child." Logan stated without hesitation. "She's all I've ever really wanted, Dad. Pretty much from the moment she compared me to Judi Dench and all but called me an elitist snob who needed to be taken down a few notches. All I want is a family with her."

"And if she won't marry you?" Mitchum pressed. "You said it yourself, she's had Lorelai Gilmore as a primary role model her entire life. She may never be willing to marry you."

Logan dropped his eyes for a moment and released a long shaky breath. When he raised his gaze again his look was pure determination, and pure love. "Our child would be no less mine if we never get married. They would be no less my family if there's never a marriage certificate legally connecting us."

"You realize there will be people in our society who would never accept that." Mitchum stated.

"You realize that even if I can someday convince Rory to marry me, she'll likely never choose to become part of society." Logan countered.

Mitchum held his breath a moment and released it gustily. "Son, Rory Gilmore was born in to our society. Half her life she spent isolated from it by her mother's choices. The other half of her life she's spent with one foot in our world, by her own. I'm sure those choices were influenced by a great many things, but the fact of the matter is, for as long as I've known her she's been able to slip pretty much seamlessly from the world of the high class elite, to the middle class lifestyle Lorelai chose for them, and back, at will. It's not a question of her needing to choose to be a part of society, she is part of society. Just as she is part of the small town, blue collar world she grew up in. The real question is whether you're okay with that, and whether you'll be able to embrace, at least minimally, that other world as well."

"I can do that." Logan stated assuredly. "For her I can do that. For them I would do that."

Mitchum nodded. "Then take heart, Logan. As I recall, Rory was never big on ultimatums. But she's always been a pretty big believer in compromise."

* * *

There are so many other things I fell like I could say, or explain, or point out... But I'm just going to let the story speak for itself.

I know he doesn't seem like the man we knew, especially from the original series years, but what did you think of Mitchum?


	6. Dredging Up The Details

We're back with Rory (and back in the USA) in today's chapter. For clarity sake, this chapter is taking place at about the same time as Logan and Mitchum's discussion in Chapter 5 took place. As always I thank everyone who has previously reviewed/commented on chapters of this story - at last count there were 70 reviews for the first 5 chapters here on alone! Knowing that many of you are enjoying this story so much brings me great joy and offers a continuing source of pride in myself and my abilities to write an interesting and captivating story. So truly, thank you for taking just a couple moments to let me know what you think!

For the first time in _**Ever Changing Life,**_ in this chapter we see Lorelai and Luke - though you'll recall both have been talked about or alluded to many times already. I'll be interested to see what you think of my take on their evolving/changed relationship now that they are married. :-) In the meantime...

_I do not own or hold rights to _Gilmore Girls,_ it's characters, settings, or established storyline. I have for the purposes of mutual enjoyment and entertainment borrowed them, with no infringements or offence intended toward the original writers or producers._

Happy Reading and Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 6: Dredging Up The Details**

Snow crunched under the cars tires as Rory pulled into the driveway of her mother's house. Or, she supposed, her mother and Luke's house now. As she shifted the car into park, she saw the front door open and her mom step out on to the porch. Lorelai waited on the top step, watching and bouncing impatiently as Rory grabbed a box from the back seat and closed the door.

"Are those gifts?" Lorelai called excitedly as Rory started toward the house.

Rory would have rolled her eyes at the question, but she was watching her step, gingerly making her way across the yard trying to avoid sinking too deeply in snow or slipping on ice hidden under the recent snowfall. When she'd arrived back in the States two days earlier it was to discover that Old Man Winter had dropped a bountiful fall of snow while she'd been absent.

"I figured I'd bring the gifts I've got for Lane and the boys and a few others around town out now." Rory eventually answered when she reached the bottom of the steps. "There's nothing for you in here though."

"What?!" Lorelai practically shrieked the word and backed up a step as Rory climbed the stairs and breezed right past her into the house. She followed her daughter, closing the front door behind her as she came in, and dogged her steps all the way to the Christmas tree standing proudly in the corner of the living room. "How can there be nothing in there for me? I'm your mother, you _have_ to buy me gifts."

"I think saying I have to get you gifts is a little much. It's more that the polite thing to do is to get your parents gifts. Appropriate may even be a better word. In your case it's only a necessity if I want to avoid long and fairly ridiculous diatribes about what an ungrateful or uncaring child I am." Rory explained in a patient tone while she slipped the gifts under the tree. Luke walked into the room from the kitchen as Rory turned from the tree and she smiled at him gratefully as she accepted the mug of hot chocolate he handed her. "Thanks Luke."

"No problem," he muttered in his typically gruff but caring way. "Welcome back."

Rory smiled again, "Thanks again, Luke. I've got another box of gifts in my trunk that is a bit heavier and I don't want to attempt to carry it through that snow. Any chance—"

"I'll grab it for you." He offered before she managed to complete the request.

"Keys are on the table by the door." She told him with another grateful smile and he simply nodded in response before glancing at Lorelai with a small frown. "What are you pouting about?"

The question had Lorelai's pouty look deepening. "She didn't get me any presents." Luke just shook his head and headed for the front door.

"You shouldn't tease him." Rory pointed out.

"Who says I'm teasing." Lorelai replied with a shrug.

Now Rory frowned at her. "I did get you presents." She said.

"Yay!" The interrupting cheer nearly made Rory smile.

"But I know, based on years of experience, that you are a horrible gift-getter and if I brought them here, you'd have examined, shaken and wildly hypothesized over what they are _long_ before you'd have to load them up and haul them to Grandma's in Nantucket." Rory explained and then she did laugh as the pout reemerged on Lorelai's face in exaggerated depths. "I'm just saving everyone a headache and will take care of transporting everything at one time when I head out there on Sunday."

That last comment diverted Lorelai from her disappointment and she sunk onto the couch. "You're going out to your grandmother's early?"

"Yeah," Rory replied and took a deep breath before releasing slowly. "I figured I'd tell her about my pregnancy and give her a few days to be angry and yell at me, and then settle down before you and Luke get there on the 23rd."

"Rory, no," Lorelai murmured. "We should be there with you."

Rory shook her head and settled down into the chair nearest the tree. "Mom I've got to tell her on my own. I'm the one in this mess, not you and definitely not Luke. It wouldn't be fair to either of you to be around when I break the news to her."

"You never know, Ror, she may take it better than you expect." Lorelai suggested gently.

"She may be more laid-back and relaxed than she used to be, but she's still Grandma. She's still going to freak out. She's still going to have tons of questions that I'm just not sure I have answers for." Rory said frowning down at the mug in her hands. She paused in thought for a moment, then shrugged and sipped the warm drink. "There's no reason you and Luke need to be subjected to Emily Gilmore on tear. And hopefully by the time you guys get there she'll have the worst of it out of her system and won't make the holiday a complete misery."

"I wish for your sake that you're wrong," Lorelai told her and the two Gilmore Girls heard Luke stomping his feet on the porch and the door opening. "But I speak for both Luke and I when I say thank you for your considerate act and for throwing yourself into the fire without us."

"What are you talking about?" Luke questioned as he came through the room with the gifts he'd retrieved from Rory's car. He set the large box down near the tree and told her, "You can put them where you want them."

"Thank you again Luke." Rory responded gratefully.

"Rory's decided she's going to head to Nantucket early so she can tell my mother about the baby," Lorelai explained to him, answering the question he'd voiced when he'd entered. "I was thanking her for trying to give mom time to get through the first flash of her anger before we get there for Christmas."

He frowned and looked back and forth between the two girls. "Are you sure that's the best way to handle it?" He finally asked focusing on Rory.

She shrugged. "I don't know," she answered truthfully. "But neither you or mom should have to be there when she boils over at the news." His frown deepened but after a moment he nodded.

"If you think so." He finally agreed.

Rory smiled at him, then her smile widened as he settled onto the couch beside her mother and Lorelai shifted to snug up against his side. In many ways their marriage hadn't changed anything in her mom and Luke's relationship, yet in other ways it had changed things a lot. Luke was less hesitant to give his opinion on things when it came to Rory and Emily, and their lives, for one thing. Lorelai was far less hesitant to voice her concerns about April's behaviour and the girl's, and her mother's, expectations of Luke. Both of them were far more demonstrative with each other through little displays of affection and voicing their emotions to one another, whether or not others happened to be around.

For all that Rory had worried over how their marriage may change the dynamic of her relationship with her mother, or with Luke for that matter, it really hadn't altered anything between them that drastically. With Luke, the relationship had tightened, he became even more fatherly practically overnight. And with Lorelai things were basically the same. There was a bit more distance between them but Rory believed that most of that came about because of her pregnancy announcement, and because of the many things she'd come to discover and understand through her writing. Some part of it had come about too, Rory thought, because Lorelai was finally beginning to accept that Rory was her own adult, her own person, and less the 'mini-me' that Lorelai had always previously thought of her as.

"So," Lorelai eventually interrupted Rory's wandering thoughts. "Dare I ask how things went in London?"

"You can ask," Rory replied and continued to sip her drink.

Lorelai waited a beat, rolled her eyes and asked. "Rory, how did things go in London?"

"Okay." Rory answered simply, paused. "I guess."

"You guess?" Luke asked and Rory considered his question just another little example of how things had changed with their marriage. Before the wedding, not only would Luke have made himself scarce during her and Lorelai's conversations, but he would have rarely inserted himself into one of their talks. "You did talk to him right?"

"Yes, Luke, I did talk to him." Rory assured him.

"But?" Lorelai prodded.

Rory wrinkled her nose a moment before answering. "I saw him and I talked to him. I even saw her and talked to her. But even with all that talking, I'm really not sure where he stands on the pregnancy or the baby."

"You talked to her?" Lorelai asked clearly taken aback at the news. "Why on earth would you do that?"

"I went there thinking that I knew everything I needed to know about their relationship," Rory began sheepishly. "Turns out that I'd made a lot of assumptions and drawn a lot of conclusions based on things I heard through the grapevine or read in the tabloids. I was wrong about pretty much all of them."

"He's engaged Rory," Lorelai admonished. "Whatever assumptions or conclusions you made, wrong or not, doesn't change the fact that he's engaged to another woman."

"Unless there were reasons beyond common knowledge that pertained to the reality of their relationship and their engagement." Rory suggested calmly.

"Oh, Rory, please tell me you didn't fall for another man telling you that their relationship is falling apart, or basically over, or 'just a business deal,' or whatever." Lorelai groaned and her expression darkened in disappointment. "God, please tell me you weren't that pathetic after going all the way to London."

Rory clenched her teeth at the judgemental words her mother spewed. She stared at her silently for a couple minutes, keeping her own snap, thoughtlessly rude response to herself. When Lorelai said nothing more, Rory swallowed.

"Are you done?" She asked, waited a beat, continued. "Did you want to hear how my trip went, or should I go now? Because honestly, if you think that lowly of me, I'm not sure I even want to tell you about it."

Luke shifted, laid his hand on Lorelai's thigh. "We want to hear how it went." And Rory saw him gently squeeze her mom's thigh, like he was sending a silent message to her.

Rory glanced at the tree, frowning at the sudden realization that Logan and Odette hadn't had a tree in the apartment. If it were her apartment, Rory would have a great big tree just off-centre in the big bank of windows in the living room, to the side of the French doors to the balcony. She would decorate it on the first day of December, ensuring it's twinkling lights helped brighten the otherwise gloomy month. She wondered if they just hadn't put the tree up yet, or if they hadn't intended on putting one up at all.

"Rory?" Luke said, drawing her attention back to him and Lorelai on the couch.

"Sorry my mind wandered." Rory licked her lips and closed her eyes briefly to refocus on the conversation. Opening them she looked at them again. "It ended up taking me two days once I got to London to drum up the courage to actually knock on his door. I'd watched a woman leave a few minutes earlier so I assumed he was alone at the apartment, and I figured it would be my best chance to talk to him."

Rory chuckled humourlessly and admitted, "That's what I get for making assumptions again. It was actually the cleaning lady I'd seen leaving, and then Odette showed up right behind me almost as soon as Logan had opened the door."

"No!" Lorelai gasped. "Awkward."

"Lorelai, how is that helpful?" Luke admonished.

Lorelai shrugged, "I didn't realize I was supposed to be helping."

"Ignore her." Luke told Rory, and Rory smiled at the pairs antics.

"So I'm standing there, stuttering and completely embarrassed because here's his fiancé finding me on the doorstep. And she's all welcoming and inviting me in for something warm to drink and a chat," Rory tells them with a shake of her head at the memory. "I had no idea what to think and the two of them are just all smiles, pulling me through the front door and trying to make me comfortable."

"And it was awkward, Luke. I felt like an idiot sitting there while she pours tea for us all, while apologizing that she'd forgotten to pick up coffee when she was at the market." Rory admitted with a rueful smile at Luke. "Then we started talking."

Rory frowned a little bit. "Odette started going on about how she was so happy to meet me because Logan had told her all about me, and I snapped. I got all defensive. I couldn't understand why he would talk to her about me, or why she'd want to meet me even if he had. And that's about the time that she realized that I really knew nothing about her or about their relationship."

"I've got to admit," Luke confessed, "even I'm not sure I can see any reason a guy would tell his fiancé about his girlfriend."

"Technically I wasn't actually his girlfriend," Rory corrected then raised a hand in their direction when they both opened their mouths to reply. "But it doesn't matter, not really."

"It sort of does though, doesn't it?" Lorelai wondered. "What was he doing? Trying to admit all his wrongs in an attempt to wipe the slate clean before the wedding?"

Rory rolled her eyes and released a frustrated sigh. "Actually, from what I came to understand, she's known about me right from the start. Logan told her that he and I were involved the night they met."

"Good God, Rory," Lorelai gasped. "How long have you and Logan been sneaking around behind everyone's backs? I thought your whole Vegas thing was a relatively recent development."

"We ran in to each other the first time around five years ago." Rory admitted and she heard one of them take a sharp breath. "After that we stayed in touch and saw one another whenever we happened to be in the same area."

"So, you and he had, whatever you had, going on before he even met his fiancé?" Luke asked.

"Yeah."

"Five years, Rory?" Lorelai questioned and the tone of her voice told Rory she either needed to continue her story quickly or her mother would completely sidetrack them.

Rory shrugged. "I missed him. At Yale, he became as close to and as important to me as you, mom. And then he was gone. One day he was as vital to my life as you were and the next day he was simply gone. I missed him."

"I had no idea," Lorelai murmured.

"Of course, you didn't," Rory told her. "I couldn't tell you how much it hurt, or how much I regretted giving him that ring back and watching him walk away. Or for how long that regret tore me apart inside. You never let me tell you."

Lorelai sighed. "Oh, honey."

"In any case, Odette realized that I had no idea what the realities of their relationship were, and _she_ explained that though she cared for Logan deeply, they were nothing more than friends. Her father brought about their engagement, essentially presented it to them as a done deal, and he's done everything he can to try and progress them toward actually walking down the aisle." Rory explained.

"She told you they had a platonic relationship?" Lorelai asked.

"She told me." Rory confirmed. "How pathetic am I for believing her word, do you think?"

Lorelai had the good sense to look slightly ashamed of her earlier comment but still questioned the news. "I just don't get it. If it's a platonic relationship and they're really just friends, why would they go along with an arranged engagement? Certainly it can't be for money?"

"It wasn't for money." Rory told her.

"Then why?" Luke asked, as he too wondered.

"Odette's father pushed the whole plan along, from introduction to engagement, to having her move in to his house, because he doesn't approve of the person she's involved with. She and Logan went along with the whole scheme because Odette was hoping that sooner or later her father would realize how wrong he was, and end the entire thing himself." Rory explained. "The whole time that she and Logan were supposedly together and eventually engaged, Odette has continued her own relationship in Paris."

"And Logan knew this?" Lorelai clarified.

"Yes mom, Logan knew. The only reason he agreed to go along with the whole thing was because he didn't figure it mattered to me one way or another, and to be honest I did my utmost to make him believe that it didn't." Rory admitted.

"But why not just tell her father to get over himself?" Lorelai questioned. "Why the elaborate charade of a relationship and fake engagement?"

"She loves her father." Rory told them. "Despite his attitude and his scheming, she loves him and doesn't want to disappoint or hurt him if she doesn't have to. She honestly hoped that he'd realize she wasn't just going to abandon her relationship because he said so, and agree to let her live her own life. They both assured me that they would have been calling the whole thing off some time in the next few months. My coming to London and telling Logan about the baby upped their schedule dramatically."

"So, the wedding's off then?" Luke asked.

"The wedding's off." Rory confirmed. "Odette was leaving London the same night I did. She was headed back to Paris and was going to meet with both her parents the next day to tell them. Logan is probably talking to Mitchum right about now. He had to wait a couple days for Mitchum to arrive in London for some meetings. He, Mitchum I mean, should have arrived several hours ago and Logan said he was going to talk to him first thing."

"What if her father, or his, doesn't agree to let them call off the wedding?" Lorelai asked her. "They went along with her father's scheme for this long, what if their parents won't let them just say 'meh, we changed our minds.' I mean, there must have been contracts, or a pre-nup, or something signed by now."

Rory shook her head. "There's nothing their parents can do to force them to stay the course. Both Logan and Odette are independently wealthy because of their trust funds and through their own work, and though their family's lawyers had sent them a pre-nup to sign months ago, neither of them have signed it."

"Then I don't get it?" Lorelai repeated her earlier comment. "Why exactly have they gone along with this whole thing for so long if their families aren't holding anything over their heads?"

"Odette's father doesn't approve of her relationship because her partner is a woman named Rochelle. He's a very traditional, highbrow, aristocratic type and believes that if people discover his only daughter is a lesbian it will tarnish the family's reputation for ever." Rory finally answered after studying both her mother and Luke for a long minute.

Lorelai sucked in a shocked breath. Up until pretty much that moment she'd still believed that Logan was somehow pulling the wool over Rory's eyes. When Rory had taken off for London a week ago, Lorelai had convinced herself that Logan would convince her daughter to stay in London indefinitely, continuing their adulterous relationship under the nose of his fiancé. Then Rory called her two days earlier to let her know that she was back in Hartford and Lorelai convinced herself that one way or another, Rory and he must have come up with some other kind of arrangement. The news that Logan wasn't actually in an other relationship, fake or not, anymore was startling enough to Lorelai, but to find out that the whole relationship had been nothing more than a sham, all to help a girl out against some obviously fierce familial disapproval was nearly unbelievable.

She stared blankly at Rory and licked her lips. "Odette's a lesbian?"

Rory simply nodded in response.

"You're sure?" Luke asked.

"Of course, I'm sure." Rory told him, her brows raising dramatically toward her hairline. "If trusting their word wouldn't have been enough, when Rochelle learned that I was in London, she jumped on the first plane she could and joined us. She's apparently spent enough time with Logan that she'd heard a lot about me and wanted to meet me too."

"That's just crazy," Luke said and though Lorelai didn't say anything, silently she agreed.

"I know. Believe me," Rory agreed. "But it's because Rochelle really wanted to see me that I ended up staying the extra day."

"Wow." Lorelai finally said. "Just wow."

"Yep." Rory replied.

"So what's the deal with you and Logan then?" Lorelai asked. "Are you together? What's the plan for baby? How did he react?"

"That's," Rory stumbled over her words. "That's where things are a little spotty."

"You did tell him, right?" Luke demanded.

"Yes, I told him." She assured him. "I'm just not really sure what he plans to do yet. Though he definitely wasn't mad when I told him. Surprised more than anything, and I can't say I blame him for that."

"No, I think everyone who knows has been more than a little shocked by the news." Lorelai agreed.

Rory nodded but her expression suggested she was worried. "I just don't know what he plans on doing. Or even what he wants. I mean, he was surprised and he was really sincere when he thanked me for telling him. But we never really got in to what happens next."

"But that's _why_ you went all the way there." Lorelai pointed out.

"It's part of why I went." Rory insisted. "But mostly I simply needed to tell him about the pregnancy."

"If all you were concerned with doing was telling him that you were pregnant, you could have done that over the phone." Lorelai argued. "Instead, you went to London, you sat down with him and told him. Obviously you excepted some kind of conversation about what you were going to do."

Rory sighed. "I wanted to tell him face-to-face, period. Any other way would have been taking the cowards way out. I may have hoped that he and I would be able to discuss a few things - like whether he even wants to be involved in this baby's life, but I can't really blame him for not saying one way or the other what he wants to do right away. After all, it took me a while to figure out what I wanted. Then it took me a couple more weeks before I hauled myself to London to tell him. How can I expect him to have answers immediately when even I didn't?"

"Did he give you any idea how he felt at all?" Luke asked.

"Not really," the younger Gilmore Girl admitted with a shake of her head. "I mean, he seemed sort of amazed, maybe? He wasn't mad that I was pregnant. And like I said he was really, really grateful that I came to tell him, that I was giving him the opportunity to make his own choices. But what those choices will be, I'm almost scared to imagine. When we did talk, he just kept asking what I wanted, but I don't want what I might want to influence his choices right now."

"Well are you worried that he won't want to be involved?" Luke questioned her. "Or are you worried that he will?"

"Both, I guess." Rory admitted after a minute.

Lorelai frowned, "How can you be worried about both? It's sort of one or the other, isn't it?"

"No." Rory answered slowly, taking her time to make sure that she explained herself in such a way that her meaning would be clear to her mom and Luke. "When I'm worried that he won't want to be involved, it's because I believe that given the chance, he could be a great dad. I know that he's always wanted to be a better father than what Mitchum was to him."

Rory paused and leaned over to set her now empty mug on the coffee table. When she leaned back both Luke and Lorelai took note of the way her hand came to rest over her stomach, as if cradling the baby that lay inside. Rory nibbled her lip as she thought another moment and then frowned lightly.

"And I guess when I worry about him wanting to be involved, it's more that I'm worried about how that would work." She finally said as she looked at them. "Would we be trying to raise the baby intercontinentally? Or would one of us need to move closer to the other? And if one of us was to move, should it be me going to London? I mean, I've got no obligations holding me here. Family, yes, but so does Logan. Meanwhile the entire division of HPG that Logan runs is based in London."

"Would you really move to London with the baby?" Lorelai asked quietly.

"I don't know." Rory admitted breathily. "Maybe? Would it be fair to either Logan or the baby to stay here and essentially cast Logan as an absentee father, if he does want to be involved?"

Lorelai's mouth opened and closed a couple times as she considered how to respond. It was Luke who finally spoke.

"Maybe it'd be better to just give him a bit of time to think about things, and then find out what he wants." He suggested. "There's no sense in getting worked up over all the possible 'what if's'. You said he deserves a bit of time to make up his mind, which I agree with, so give him that."

"She can't just wait indefinitely Luke," Lorelai said, finally managing to break through the surprising realization that Rory would actually consider moving to London to raise the baby. "One way or another, some decisions need to be made. Some of them soon."

"I agree," Luke responded calmly glancing from Lorelai to Rory, and back again. "But Logan went from thinking that he'd never see her again, and that she wanted nothing more to do with him, to finding out that they were having a baby together. I don't think it's out of line to give the guy a couple weeks to wrap his head around it. Rory took more than a month to sort things out for herself and talk to him."

"I'm not sure what his holiday plans are, but I sort of figured I'd wait and if I hadn't heard from his by the New Year, then I'd give him a call." Rory admitted. "In the meantime, I'm going to keep working on my book. I'm going to go to Nantucket and spend time and the holiday with Grandma, and you guys. We'll come back here and have the Christmas-New Year's Party. And then I'll call him."

"Assuming you haven't heard from him by then." Lorelai concluded.

"Yeah, but I think maybe I should _stop_ assuming things when it comes to Logan. I haven't been all that successful at it lately." And that, more or less, closed that topic of discussion for the rest of the night. Luke eventually left the pair to their typically inane conversations and headed to bed. As for the Gilmore Girls, they spent several hours discussing the upcoming holiday plans, gift predictions, and how to tell Emily Gilmore that she was going to be a great-grandmother.

And for the time being, that was exactly right.

* * *

So what do you think of married Luke and Lorelai? What do you think of how the relationship between Rory and them both has evolved?

... just, what do you think?

I'll be back with another chapter on Friday or Saturday. Until then, happy reading and have a great few days!


	7. The Winds Blow Cold in Nantucket

Well, it's later than I expected to be getting this new chapter of _**Ever Changing Life**_ posted, but it's still Saturday night where I am. Sorry to those of you who spent the last two days (im)patiently waiting for your new chapter notifications - life's been a bit busy the past two days and this is one of the first chances I've had to sit down at my computer with a block of time to do final edits and get chapter 7 loaded up.

Thank you so much for your continued support of this story - for your comments and appreciation!

When I started writing this one, I didn't truly know what I was in for. Emily surprised me a bit. You'll have to let me know if she manages to surprise you too.

_I do not now, nor have I ever, owned _Gilmore Girls_ or it's affiliate parts. I have, in this story and others, borrowed much-loved aspects of that world to (hopefully) create an alternative and entertaining story for you, and for me. _

Until next time: ENJOY!

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**Chapter 7: The Winds Blow Cold in Nantucket**

The sound of her own knife scraping against the plate grated on Rory's nerves and she cringed. She shot a quick glance at Emily, seated to her right on the adjacent side of the table, to see whether the elder woman would comment. Rory sighed however when she saw that, as she'd been doing since Sunday evening when Rory announced her pregnancy, Emily was blithely ignoring all presence of her granddaughter in the room with her.

The _silent treatment._

Rory supposed she should be grateful that Emily hadn't spent the past two days unleashing the storm of her wrath on Rory. In its own way though, this barrage of silence was more painful. The encompassing quiet more deafening than if she'd been screaming at the top of her lungs. And yet, there were moments Rory would catch her grandmother looking at her with an expression of such deep heartbreak, that Rory was almost glad for the silence.

It had to end though. Luke and her mom would be arriving in two days for Christmas and Rory didn't want the holiday overshadowed by Emily's reaction to the news of her pregnancy.

"Grandma," Rory said, "I was wondering if you'd be interested in going to the museum today?"

Emily made no response, but Rory noted that for just a second her hands had paused mid-movement while spreading jam on her toast.

"I thought maybe you could give me a private tour, since you don't have any scheduled tours while we're here?" Rory suggested. "I'd really like to see it."

Rory waited. Emily made no outward reaction to her request and Rory hoped that she would do or say something. But Emily didn't; when she finally finished preparing the toast to her liking, Emily merely set the knife aside, picked up her coffee cup with one hand and began eating her toast with the other. Five minutes later Rory sighed with defeat.

"I've eaten all I can for now," she commented pushing her plate away slightly. "I think I'm going to go walk for a while. Not far, obviously, it's way too cold to be out for long."

Still nothing came from Emily, not even a flicker in her expression, and Rory shook her head and pushed up from her seat. "I'll be back in a little bit," she promised as she left the room.

Emily listened to Rory move through the house, heard her speak very briefly to Berta or one of the cousins, and then the sound of the front door opening and closing behind her as she left. At that final sound, Emily finally released the rigid control she'd been holding over herself and lowered both the remnants of her toast and her coffee cup to the table. She laced her hands together and clenched them hard as she fought not to lose complete control. After another moment she pushed away from the table and headed to her private sitting room.

There she found herself standing in front of Richard's portrait, and there she allowed a few tears to slip from her eyes.

"This isn't how it was supposed to be." She told the image of her husband, the emphatic tone of her voice broken by the heavy emotion that filled it. "She was supposed to be married and settled. Lord, Richard, she was supposed to be happy."

She stared silently at the picture. She tried to imagine what Richard would say, as she had been trying to imagine his reaction for the past two days. She raised a hand, hardly noticing the way it shook as she reached out and touched his cheek. Richard had always had a soft spot for Rory, she knew. And he had always believed utmost that Rory would handle any adversity she may face, with the aplomb and dignity of all those who came before her.

In private he had always told her that Rory was the best of them. While she may falter, and even fall at times, she was stronger than them all. Because, he'd said, along with all the advantages that being a Gilmore gave her, she also knew scarcity, and doubt and weakness, and had experienced a far more diverse upbringing than any Gilmore before. It was Lorelai's choice to raise her as she had that gave Rory those qualities. And for that, he'd reminded her often through the years, they should be proud of both of their girls.

It was while standing there, looking at Richard's face and remembering those words, that she finally realized what his reaction would be.

He would be concerned, of course.

The circumstances were certainly far from ideal. Logan was engaged, though Emily vaguely recalled Rory saying that he and the French girl were calling that off. Even with that, there would be many people who would look poorly on Rory for having carried on a relationship with him while he was engaged. While Emily didn't care nearly as much for the opinions of society as she once had, Rory was young and those opinions could be harmful and difficult to live with.

Rory was single and unemployed as well.

Both those factors would have bothered Richard greatly, though the unemployed bit would have been his largest concern. She wasn't destitute by any means. She had the trust fund Richard had set up for her when she was a baby and they'd built upon it through the years. The funds wouldn't support Rory forever, they certainly wouldn't support Rory and a child, but they would keep her for a while. They would give her a cushion while she figured out what to do next.

Richard had given Rory all the pertinent details for the trust a few years ago, after she'd turned 25 and could begin to freely access it. However, Emily had discovered after Richard's death that their granddaughter had never touched any of the money. Emily thought to herself now, that she should remind Rory that the money was there if she needed it for the baby.

The thing was that Richard had almost always had that soft spot for Rory. While he would be worried for Rory's financial well-being, and concerned about her social standing amongst her peers, he would first and foremost want her to be happy. And if Rory was happy, she was beginning to think that Richard would have been ecstatic at the thought of a new Gilmore in the family.

But Emily wasn't at all sure that Rory was happy. She was determined to have and keep the baby, Emily knew that much, but happy? She sighed and moved to her favourite chair, sinking down on to the cushion. Rory had been nervous to tell her about the pregnancy when she'd arrived Sunday evening. It had been those nerves that Emily had questioned during dinner that night. In the days since Emily had continued to see the nervousness, and something more, an uncertainty perhaps in Rory's manner. Determined though she was, Rory was definitely still wary of her future.

Distantly, Emily heard Rory re-enter the house. She couldn't continue this silence. She knew she would have to speak with her granddaughter about the pregnancy and what her plans for the future included. And about Logan, Emily frowned. She had always liked Logan Huntzberger and had in fact considered it an absolute shame that he and Rory had ended their relationship after Yale. Oh, she could understand now why Rory had turned down his engagement all those years ago, but she'd never truly understood why that had had to signify the end of their relationship. The two of them had gone through a lot of struggles during their time together, but they'd worked through them. Emily believed that despite those problems, or perhaps because of them, Rory and Logan's relationship had only been stronger.

She worried now that Logan would end up being an absent figure in his child's life, much the same as Christopher had been to Rory. Rory was enough like Lorelai, she believed, that she was certainly capable of raising her own child without anyone's help. Emily fervently hoped, for her own sake and for Logan's, that Rory would be more open to other's involvement in her and her child's life.

Half an hour later Emily rose and with one last glance at Richard's picture, went in search of her granddaughter. She eventually found her, after a detour to the kitchen for another cup of coffee, in the small office space Emily had set up for herself. Rory was seated at the escritoire, her laptop running and a notebook open. She was holding a cup in one hand and with the other held her cell phone to her ear.

"No, no," she was saying. "No, Paris. I didn't tell you about my pregnancy the other night so that you could hijack my prenatal care." She listened for several minutes. "I know you're the best at what you do Paris, but the bottom line is that while you are an OB/Gyn, your practice is generally for those in need of a fertility specialist, or for facilitating surrogacy options. Obviously, I don't need those things. I just need someone to care for me and the baby through the pregnancy."

She was quiet again while Paris spoke to her. "I know who she is Paris. I did do some research on the best doctors in New England before I made my original appointment." Rory sighed aloud and set her cup down on the saucer that rested near the computer. "Paris I didn't attempt to see her in the first place because I really don't see the need to travel to New York every few weeks for the duration of my pregnancy. Now it's winter, I'm even less inclined to want to travel that far."

"I didn't know she had an office in Connecticut too." Rory admitted after another pause. "Well, yeah I mean travelling to Bridgeport would be just as easy as going to Boston."

There was another longer pause. "I don't know Paris. I'm giving him some time." Emily was confused who the 'him' Rory spoke of was, but she continued after a beat. "He deserves a chance to figure out how he feels about the pregnancy, just the same as I did, Paris. I mean, I'd essentially told him that we couldn't be involved in anyway any longer, and then I showed up and told him he was going to be a father. It's a lot to take in."

"Paris, I explained to you the situation with Odette. Maybe you don't believe it but I do." Rory told her firmly, exasperation clearly evident in her tone. "Paris, they were never going to get married. Calling the wedding off is no great catastrophe. It simply happened a bit sooner than they were planning."

Emily frowned at the comment. Logan and the French girl, Odette, weren't actually planning on getting married? And what could he have told Rory about the situation that Paris so openly doubted?

"Jeez Paris, no, I didn't sleep with him again while I was in London." Rory grumbled and Emily decided it would be prudent to leave the room before she heard anything more. "Really could you be any more over-dramatic?"

Emily left the room as silently as she'd entered and went in to the living room to finish her cup of coffee and consider what she'd heard. She sat in a chair close to the fireplace and gazed at the elaborate Christmas tree she'd had Berta set up earlier in the month. A fair number of gifts rested on the velvet skirt surrounding the tree's base, despite the small number of people they would belong to. Looking at the tree, Emily once again felt a wave of sorrow wash over her at the thought of Richard's absence, at the certainty he would have be bursting with excitement at the prospect of spending a full week with Lorelai and Rory.

Rory came into the room just as a single tear slipped unimpeded down Emily's cheek and she frowned at the sight.

"Grandma?" She said gently. She was still perturbed with Paris and her meddling, but even in the early days after her grandfather's death, Rory couldn't remember actually seeing her grandmother cry.

Rory's voice, soft though it was, startled Emily from her thoughts. She glanced at the beautiful woman in the doorway and swiped self-consciously at her cheek. Emily took a deep breath.

"Rory," she finally said to the younger woman. "Come sit with me, please."

Rory crossed the room immediately and sat in the closest seat. "Grandma, I'm so sorry."

"Oh Rory," Emily replied and held her hand up to forestall whatever else Rory might have been about to say. "No. I'm the one who's sorry."

"I know that my becoming pregnant disappoints you," Rory told her, "I wouldn't be honest if I didn't say that it disappoints me some as well."

"Rory, stop." Emily ordered firmly and repeated. "Stop." She had finished her coffee and reached beside her to set the cup on the table. "Rory, I shouldn't have shut you out these past few days. I suppose part of my reasoning, a small part, is that when your mother announced she was pregnant all those years ago, I reacted without thinking. I ordered her around and spoke of how the situation affected me, without any consideration to what she was going through. If there was one thing your grandfather and I learned in the years after you both came back into our lives, it was that our reaction in that moment was part of what led to your mother's leaving with you. I didn't want to repeat the same mistakes."

"Oh Grandma, what happened with mom is entirely different then the situation I'm in now." Rory said.

"Of course, it's different, you're an adult for one thing, but further, the world is vastly different now than it was 30 years ago." Emily explained. "Single parents are nearly as common these days as married parents are."

Rory chuckled slightly, "I'm not a hundred percent sure of your statistics there but then, well, math never was my strongest skill."

"Nor mine," Emily admitted in agreement. "Oh Rory, I just didn't want to say something to you that I'd regret later. I know I have an abominable temper and often speak rashly and without thought when I'm in the middle of it. Words spoken in anger can be difficult to take back. And can be even more difficult for the focus of that temper to forgive."

"I knew you'd be angry though," Rory told her. "It's why I came out so early. I wanted to have the chance to work things out as much as we could before mom and Luke got here for the holiday."

Emily nodded. "I understand that, and I truly appreciate it." Emily paused briefly and studied Rory's face. "But Rory I'm not angry with you."

"Disappointed then." Rory amended.

"Any disappointment I feel is because your grandfather isn't here with us, wasn't here to hear you tell us you were expecting our great-grandchild." Emily paused again, fighting her emotion. "He would have been so excited for you, you know."

Rory started sobbing and Emily sprang from her seat to get a box of tissues that was sitting across the room. She pulled two from the box as she returned to her chair, handing them to Rory.

"Do you think so?" Rory asked amongst her tears.

"I do," Emily told her gently. "That's the other reason I've been so quiet Rory. I've been trying to work out how your grandfather would feel, how he would react, what he would think. He loved you so much, and was so proud of you. The last few years he was with us, he told me frequently that you had all the best pieces of us all inside of you. The best of your mother, and of Richard and I. The best of your father and even of his parents. You took all those good parts, mixed them together inside you, and combined with your personal strength you became someone better than all of us."

She paused, handing Rory another tissue. "He would have been worried for you, for a number of reasons, but he would have believed that you would bravely handle anything life tossed at you. Even a child. Especially a child."

"I don't feel particularly brave." Rory eventually admitted. "Mostly, at first, I just felt foolish for having found myself in this position in the first place. Once I got past that I've mostly just been scared. Scared I'd mess up. Scared I'd be a bad mom. Scared that even just telling Logan would ruin his life."

"Fear is a common feeling in parenting, I'm afraid." Emily said. "How did he take the news? Logan, I mean."

Rory sighed. "Okay, I guess. It was a bit more complicated than me simply telling him that I was pregnant. He's been engaged to Odette for the past year and a half, for one thing. For another, the relationship we've had hasn't been exactly kosher."

"Hmmm," Emily hummed in response, unsure what to say to that, or how to say it.

"Grandma just say whatever you need to say," Rory told her. "Believe me you aren't going to say anything worse than what mom, or Paris, or Luke have already said."

"Was he engaged when you began seeing him?" Emily questioned.

Rory bit her lip and finally admitted. "We were seeing each other before he met her."

"Before?" The answer threw her off balance. "How long have you been seeing him?"

"About five years, I guess." Rory told her. "Casually. Sometimes it would be months between visits. Much more frequently over the past two years."

"But why would he even begin seeing someone else if he was already seeing you?" Emily wondered, then shook her head. "And why would you be seeing other men, if you were seeing him?"

"Grandma, our entire relationship has been casual. There were no strings attached, no expectations between us." Rory explained as delicately as she could. "But to be honest, most all the other men I saw, especially Paul, they were simply to keep anyone from asking questions I may not have answers for."

"And now that you've told him about your pregnancy?" Emily asked. "You said that he'd called off the wedding, and I'm sorry but I overheard you on the phone earlier, you said that he'd never intended on marrying the French woman. I don't understand."

"I'm not sure that I have the right to tell you the reasons behind their engagement or for their relationship. They truly never had any intention of getting married." Rory told her. "Her father was behind the arrangement from the start. Going along with his wishes seemed the simplest course for both of them for a while. But it was never going to be a permanent arrangement for them."

"Do you intend to try and make things work between you and he now? For the child's sake?" Emily prodded.

"No, Grandma, I would never be with him, I would never even attempt to be with him merely for the baby's sake." Rory said emphatically and both hands covered her stomach.

"What about for your own sake?" Emily asked, more gently this time. "You loved each other very much at one point in your lives."

"I still love Logan. I'm not sure that's enough of a reason for us to be together." Rory said.

"If you love him Rory, it's reason enough to try."

On Christmas Day, Rory found herself sitting with the new book she'd received from Luke in the comfy chair by the Christmas tree. The small family had ripped into the pile of presents under the tree at a respectably early hour, mostly because of Lorelai's impatience to discover her 'loot.' Then Luke had cooked them all breakfast as Emily had given Berta the morning off to spend with her own family. After they'd eaten, Rory, with Emily's amusing assistance, had cleaned up the kitchen, and Lorelai had dragged Luke outside for a walk. The couple hadn't been gone all that long, Lorelai claiming it was far colder than even she really liked.

Now, Rory could just hear the murmur of her mom and grandmother's voices in Emily's sitting room, as well as Berta's chatter to Luke in the kitchen where the man was helping her put together a traditional Christmas feast for the Gilmore family and the members of Berta's family who lived and worked at the Sand Castle. She had just refocused back on the book when her phone rang, breaking her concentration.

"Hello?" She answered, trying to finish the paragraph she was reading.

"Merry Christmas, Ace."

The sound of Logan's voice snapped Rory's to attention, and she lost all interest in the book resting against her legs. "Logan!? Hi. Merry Christmas."

"Am I interrupting? You sounded distracted when you answered." He replied with a chuckle.

"No, you're not interrupting," she assured him, glancing briefly at the book before closing it and setting it aside. "Nothing important anyways."

"No?" He questioned.

"No," she confirmed, "Luke gave me a book for Christmas, I was just reading."

"Something new?" He asked her.

Rory laughed. "Old-new. He found a first edition of _Emma_ for me somewhere."

"Cool." He commented, and though she knew he wasn't entirely fond of Austen, he did enjoy _Emma_ from time to time.

"Well I certainly thought so." She agreed. "How's it been for you?"

"Really good, actually," he told her. "Honor was really insistent on spending this Christmas together for some reason, and I got to spoil the kids rotten so that's always a bonus."

"So you're in New York?" Rory asked, knowing that Honor and Josh lived in one of the 'burbs.

"Well, White Plains, but yes." He replied. "What about you? I assume you're at your mom's?"

"You assume wrong," she retorted lightly. "Mom and Grandma came to some weird agreement before the wedding that we'd all spend a week at Christmas in Nantucket. Or I guess the agreement was just that Luke and Mom would spend a week out here with Grandma, and a couple weeks in the summer too, but obviously I got dragged in to the deal too."

"So you're in Nantucket?" He clarified. "Why are you in Nantucket?"

She titled her head and briefly pondered. "Didn't I tell you that Grandma moved out here?"

"Uh," he hummed in thought. "Maybe?"

"Well, she did. She sort of bounced back and forth a bit through the summer and fall, but she's been out here almost exclusively since Mom's wedding." Rory explained.

"And you've been in Hartford," he said. "I remember you said that. I guess I thought you were staying with Emily at the house."

Rory shook her head though he couldn't see her. "I've been staying at the house. Mostly. I've spent a bit of time in Boston and, of course, in Stars Hollow. This is actually the first I've been out to Nantucket since Grandma's been here."

"Okay, so when are you headed back to Connecticut?" He asked, his tone shifting slightly becoming more serious and intent.

"The plan is to drive back to Stars Hollow on the 30th." She informed him. "We're having a Christmas in the Hollow and New Year's party on the 31st."

"Oh," he murmured and without seeing him she could tell he was frowning in thought.

"What? Why?" She asked. "When do you head back to London?"

"I fly out on the first, in the evening. But when Finn heard I'd be stateside for the holidays he planned a New Year's bash in the city at one of his family's places." He told her. "I was really hoping the two of us would be able to get together and talk."

"I'd like that too, Logan." Rory said softly. She considered a few things, then after a moment she suggested. "I could come back a day or so early?"

"You'd do that? I don't want to interrupt your plans with your family." He asked surprised.

"It won't be that big a deal." She assured him. "I've been here a week already. I'll drive back on the 29th and we can meet up on Friday."

"Are you sure?" He asked again. "I could probably push my flight back by a day or two."

"No, Logan, don't change your flight. I'm sure I'll be ready to escape well before Thursday as it is." She told him emphatically. "Mom and Grandma may be getting along much better these days, but they're still Mom and Grandma. Peace, or semi-peace, can only last so long before absolute chaos erupts."

"If you're sure." He said.

"I'm sure."

"Alright," Logan answered slowly. "Why don't I make reservations somewhere for lunch somewhere on Friday?"

"Feeding me is probably a good idea." Rory teased.

"One-ish?" He suggested.

"That will work for me," she agreed easily. "Should I just meet you? You can text me once you've got the details."

"I'll text you, but no, I'll pick you up." He answered firmly and she sighed but didn't argue. "I'll let you know as soon as I've got reservations."

"Okay." She agreed.

"Any preferences? Or types of food to avoid?" He asked.

Rory thought briefly. "I'm good with pretty much anything still. But obviously not sushi or anything to wildly exotic."

"I can work with that." He told her. "And thanks Ace."

"For what?" She wondered.

"For agreeing to meet with me." He answered and she frowned lightly at the seriousness in his voice.

"Well, that's no problem." She told him lightly, not fully understanding his meaning but figuring she could try and sort it out when they saw one another later that week. "Plus, I'm getting a free meal, so really, I should be thanking you."

"In that case you are welcome." Logan said. "I'll see you Friday."

"Friday." She confirmed. "And Logan?"

"Yeah?" He replied quietly.

"I'm happy to hear from you. Today, especially. Merry Christmas again."

"You too, Ace. You too." He answered and then Rory heard the quiet click signaling the call had been disconnected on his end.

For a few minutes she sat silently, pondering the entire conversation. He'd been so easy, solicitous even. Except in those couple moments when he'd been really serious, really intent on their meeting, on having a chance to talk. She hoped that was a good sign, but really with Logan and the ambiguous state of their affair through the years, it was hard to tell. Eventually she set her thoughts aside and decided to refocus on her book for a while before she was once again swept up in family activities.

She informed them of her change in plans the next morning at breakfast, having deemed to leave the previous day untouched by any possibly dicey conversations about Logan, or the pregnancy.

"I'm going to head back to Hartford a day early." She told them simply after adding one of Berta's mystery pastries to her plate.

Luke merely raised his eyebrows at her light comment, but Lorelai jolted slightly.

"What? Why?" She asked and then plowed on without waiting for a response. "I thought we were heading back together for Christmas celebrations with the town and for the New Years party at the Dragonfly. You're still coming, right?"

"Of course, I'm still coming," Rory chided. "I wouldn't miss it for anything."

"Then why are you leaving early?" Lorelai questioned.

Rory sighed, uncertain how any of them would take the news. "Logan called yesterday afternoon. He's here for the holiday and wants to meet with me before he heads back to London."

"That's good, isn't it?" Luke asked, the first to react to the surprising admission that Logan had called the day before.

"It's something." Rory admitted. "I'm not really sure if it's good or bad. He just said he wanted to get together so we could talk."

"Well, when does he go back to London? Couldn't you meet up after the first?" Lorelai asked her, and Rory glanced more directly at her in an attempt to determine her feelings on the matter. "I mean, we're supposed to be here the full week. Surely he can wait a couple more days."

Rory shook her head. "His flight leaves on the first, and I'm not going to ask him to change that or rearrange whatever work he has scheduled once he's back, just so that I can keep our plans exactly as they stand."

"So, he can't be asked to change his plans, but he expects you to change yours?" Lorelai demanded and Rory heard anger in the words.

"Lorelai!" Emily admonished.

"It makes since Lorelai," Luke put in. "Besides Rory's already been here a week, and it's not like she's planning on leaving tomorrow."

"She's going a day early," Emily added. "I'm not sure why you're so upset by that."

"We were supposed to have the full week," Lorelai argued. "That was the deal."

Emily rolled her eyes. "We - you and Luke, and I - are supposed to have a full week. Rory and I have already had that, plus we've still got a few days. And when you get back to Stars Hollow, you'll have a few more with her too."

"It's not that big a deal Lorelai." Luke told her but Lorelai focused on Emily.

"Why am I not surprised that you're all gung-ho for her to hook back up with Logan? You love him." Lorelai accused.

"I do like Logan," Emily agreed easily and did her best not to react to Lorelai's negativity. "But regardless of whether any of us like him, the reality of the situation is that he is going to be a part of our lives from now on. He is Rory's child's father. He's your grandchild's father, my great-grandchild's father. The least we can do is give him the benefit of the doubt."

Lorelai scoffed and shook her head. "Just like that?" She snapped her fingers. "He gets her pregnant while he's engaged to someone else, and we just forgive and forget because he's the father. We give him the benefit of doubt and let him stomp all over her heart, again, because he's Logan. He's rich. He's a Huntzberger."

"Mom." Rory interrupted and Lorelai snapped her attention to her daughter. She immediately saw that Rory was angry, her eyes burned with indignation, and Lorelai realized that she should have stayed silent.

"Rory, I—" she began but Rory cut her off immediately.

"I think you've said enough, mom." Rory told her firmly. "I don't know whether Logan and I will ever be capable of being together again. But regardless of what becomes of he and I, Logan will always be my baby's dad. Just like Dad, despite the many times he came around and broke both our hearts, will always be my Dad."

"I just don't want to see you hurt and I don't like that you're ditching your family to go see him during the holidays." Lorelai plainly stated.

"I'm not ditching my family for him. I'm going so that I can try to figure out what my family is going to look like in six months." Rory corrected. "He's my family now too, mom. In some ways he has been since Yale, this just makes it permanent."

"She's not running away with him, Lorelai," Luke added. "She's going home a day early to meet him and have a conversation."

"Will you be there when we get to Stars Hollow on Friday night?" Lorelai finally asked, subdued.

"I might not be there when you arrive," Rory replied. "But I will definitely be there on Friday night at some point."

Lorelai nodded slowly, and eventually changed the subject. "Okay. So what are we going to do for the next couple days?"

* * *

I could say a lot about this chapter. It was a hard one to write - to write right, and write appropriately.

Richard was such an integral part to the lives of each of the Gilmore ladies. He loved Emily so much, even when she baffled him. Just as he loved Lorelai, even while he struggled to understand her, struggled to find a common ground with her. And he adored Rory. In the earliest episodes of the show he often didn't know what or how to act with her (or her with him) but the connection, the love, and an incredible respect for each other grew quickly, and it grew fierce.

I don't know... I hope I've done justice to what would have been their very intense memories of him and their grief.

The next chapter will be up in the next couple days. Happy reading!


	8. Sheep In Wolves Clothing

First of all I need to say 'Wow' and thank you!

When writing, especially the way I wrote this story from beginning to end before publishing any of it, it can be really difficult to know whether the way you depict characters and events is going to work, whether it will resonate with readers the way you want it to. So I can't even begin to explain how pleased I am that you all liked Emily, her reaction, and both her and Rory's grief. And to be completely honest, I'm pretty damn pleased that so many of you are liking the way I'm depicting and using Lorelai in the story - if not liking Lorelai herself. I wish I could say that the Lorelai of my story is acting out of character, but she's not, not really. Not in my opinion, anyways. So...

So thank you and I really, truly hope that you continue to enjoy _**Ever Changing Life.**_

_I do not own any part or portion of _Gilmore Girls. _I have simply borrowed the characters and storyline to tell an entertaining and perhaps wistful continuation of their story. _

Happy Reading!

* * *

**Chapter 8: Sheep In Wolves Clothing**

"I'm not being stupid," Rory declared uncertainly into the phone as she gazed at herself in the mirror. "Right?"

She was getting ready for lunch with Logan, having come back from Nantucket a day earlier than originally planned. Luke and Emily had both been entirely supportive of the idea, had encouraged and applauded her for taking all the right steps in the situation. Lorelai however, seemed to waver back and forth between the belief that any further interaction between Rory and Logan could only signify doom, and the (not entirely) misguided idea that Rory was willing to try so hard only because she wanted her child to have a different relationship with its father than she herself had with her own.

And somewhere during the past four days she'd managed to infect Rory with some of that doubt as well - just as she had always done when Rory was younger and doing something that Lorelai didn't particularly agree with.

"If you were being stupid, I'd have no problem telling you," the person on the other end of the line finally answered, drawing Rory's attention from her thoughts and back to the point.

Rory bit her lip and turned sideways, first one way then the other. "So, I'm not stupid to meet with him?"

"No, it's not stupid to meet with him Rory." Jess told her seriously. "You've got to find out one way or another what he wants to do. You owe him that much."

"Mom is acting like just by agreeing to come back and have lunch with him, so we can talk about things, I'm agreeing to marry him, or to take off to Europe with him, or whatever, and that she'll never see me again." Rory rambled as she pulled off the pants she had on and grabbed up a different pair from the end of her bed.

"She's Lorelai. She's always going to over exaggerate and over dramatize anything you do that's different from what she wants you to do." Jess reminded her. Shortly after the wedding, she'd gone to Philadelphia with a handful of chapters and a host of new understanding about her relationship with Lorelai growing up.

It was while she ranted about all the things she was learning about herself, about Lorelai, and about their relationship through the years, that Jess made the suggestion that instead of a non-fiction, autobiographical piece, she publish it as a novel - fictionalize the story, change or adjust just enough of the tale to protect the innocent or not-so-innocent people it portrayed. Since then he and one of the other Truncheon partners had been working with her to edit and revise her story. They both felt the story had enough commercial appeal that once it was done she should shop it to larger publishing companies, because the bigger houses would be much better equipped to promote and widely distribute it. For now, that was an argument he was content to let simmer. In the meantime, through reading what she'd written, he'd gained a far better grasp of Lorelai and Rory's relationship, and the oftentimes malignant effect Lorelai's attitude could have on Rory's personal outlook and her self-esteem.

"Rory she was insistent that you tell him about the baby. She was bull-headed about it. She practically bullied you until you booked the flight to go to London and tell Logan about the pregnancy." He continued. "Then you got back and she was pissy with you because the two of you hadn't discussed things the way she felt you should have, and you still didn't know where he stood on the issue."

"And now she's being difficult when that's exactly what I'm doing - talking to him, finding out where he stands, what he wants, all of it. It doesn't make any sense for her to be pissed Jess, when a couple weeks ago she was upset because I hadn't done this." Rory complained, her confusion plainly evident in her voice. "I just don't get it."

Jess was quiet for a moment, considering precisely how to say what he felt needed to be said. Finally with a silent scoff at himself for even considering to mince his words, he went for blunt instead. "Rory have you considered that she was only encouraging you to tell him the news when she more or less assumed that his non-involvement with the baby, and with you, seemed a given?"

"What do you mean?" Rory asked as she looked at her reflection and nodded at the outfit she had on. She moved to the closet and scooped up the shoes she wanted to wear, and holding the phone to her ear with one shoulder for a moment, grabbed a jacket and draped it over her arm. She took the phone back in her hand and headed out of the room, hitting the light switch on the way out.

"When you left for London, as far as she knew, as far as you knew, Logan was engaged and planning to be married before too much longer." Jess explained, and though he softened his tone, the words were still bluntly stated. "It's not too much of a leap to consider that to her mind, he'd already made his choice - and it wasn't you, it wasn't the baby."

"_Oh, Rory, please tell me you didn't fall for another man telling you that their relationship is falling apart, or basically over, or 'just a business deal,' or whatever." Lorelai groaned and her expression darkened in disappointment. "God, please tell me you weren't that pathetic after going all the way to London."_

Rory slowed her descent and lowered herself to sit on the step halfway down the stairs as the memory of Lorelai's comment two weeks earlier filled her mind. "So what? You think she only encouraged me to tell him about the baby because she assumed he'd just brush me off?"

"I don't know but it's not too much of a stretch is it? She's never been his biggest fan, and I can't say that I totally blame her there, but Ror, I don't think she expected anything more of him than she ever got from your dad. The idea that he may actually want to be involved in the baby's life, may want to be with you again and would end his engagement so he could, probably never occurred to her. Or not seriously anyways." He told her honestly.

They were both silent for a couple long minutes. He knew she was thinking, putting his words into the context of her own thoughts and realizations about her mother, and he knew it hurt her. "Rory I've never made a secret of the fact that I don't like the guy, but I don't know him the way you do. Lorelai doesn't know him either. She saw bits and pieces of him a decade ago. She's heard this thing or that tidbit about him through the years since. Mostly she's making assumptions about him based on her experience and what she believes she knows of his type. That doesn't necessarily make her wrong, but it doesn't make her right either. You're just going to have to live with the fact that she may never accept him or embrace him as part of your life."

"How can she accept and love the baby though, if she can't accept him?" Rory asked softly.

Jess sighed. "Because whatever her faults, and you know I'm always happy to point those out, Rory, she loves you. Let that be enough for now. Give her some time."

"i don't really have a choice, do I." She commented and his lips quirked at her tone. In the past couple months, she'd come a long way from hanging on Lorelai's every whim, but he knew she still struggled with exerting her independence regardless of Lorelai's wishes. In moments such as this, he always found himself amused at the interesting mix of frustration, resignation and exasperation that would fill her voice.

"Not really." He agreed with her and wryly continued. "Me? I'll give him the benefit of doubt in this case because I know you care about him, and you think he deserves the chance to be this kid's dad. But we both know that if he screws up, Luke and I will have to fight over which one of us gets to kick his ass first."

Rory laughed. "Thanks Jess." She finally said with a shake of her head. "She gets in my head, you know, even when I'm consciously trying to keep her out. Then I start thinking what if she's right, what if I am making a mistake? Even when everything I feel, everything I believe, everything I know about Logan tells me that involving him is the right thing to do, she gets in my head and makes me doubt. So, thanks, really."

"Hey, we're cousins now. Sort of. You need me to be a voice of rationality, give me a call anytime. Just don't ask me to referee between you and Lorelai." He replied, the wryly sarcastic tone she remembered from their youth foremost in his voice. She smiled and glanced at her watch to check the time. She saw it was quarter to one, the time Logan had said to expect him when he'd texted the night before.

"I promise." She assured him. "I should go. Logan should be here to pick me up any time and I want to be ready." Since she was already sitting, she slipped her shoes on her feet.

"No problem. See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah," she answered and rose to finish making her way to the main floor.

"Ror," Jess added and hesitated a moment before continuing. "You guys don't have to all the answers right now. All the decisions don't need to be made today. There's a reason pregnancy is nine months long."

She swallowed against the surge of emotion his words produced. "Bye, Jess."

"Bye."

Five minutes later she opened the front door just moments after his knock. She had a smile on her face and there was no remaining evidence of that brief surge of emotion on her face. She already had her jacket on and her purse in hand.

"Hi." She greeted as soon as her eyes landed on him.

"Hello to you too." He teased. "Anxious to go? What, did Emily come back from Nantucket with you and you're making a break for it?"

She laughed and joined him outside while she pulled the front door closed behind her. "No she didn't chase me home from the island. You're late."

"Yeah," he sighed and made no move toward the car. "There's been a slight snag in the plan."

"Oh." Rory said, frowning slightly and looking him directly in the eyes.

"It's nothing major," he assured her, "just, well, Honor." He finally said with a gesture to the car a short distance away. Now that Rory looked at it, she saw there were two people sitting in the back seat.

"Honor's with you. And Josh." She concluded staring at the car.

He sighed again and explained. "Since I was coming to Hartford today, they decided to bring the kids to spend a few hours with my parents. They have reservations of their own with friends for lunch, but Honor wanted to see you. We'll drop them off before we go to our own lunch. I called this morning and pushed the reservation to 1:30 so we wouldn't be late."

"Uh," Rory hummed. "Okay."

"If you don't want to see them, they can take my car and we can call a cab or something." He offered.

"Does she," Rory stuttered and took a deep breath. "Do they know about us, about everything?"

He smiled slightly. "Honor always knew about us, Ace. She didn't know all the salient details about the situation with Odette, but she knew enough to know that there was never going to be a wedding between us."

"Does she know about the baby?" She asked self-consciously but forced herself to keep her hands from moving to her stomach.

"She knows." He told her with a nod.

"And we're just dropping them off?" She clarified.

"Yes. She just wants to say hi and, I don't know, congratulations, maybe?" He assured.

"Okay, let's go then. Otherwise we'll still end up late for our reservation and their friends will think Honor and Josh are standing them up."

Logan smiled brightly for the first time since she opened the door and as they started walking to the car, his arm naturally came around her back, his hand grasping lightly at her hip. "Let's go."

They reached the car and he opened the door with a flourish gesture. "Your carriage, my lady."

"Why thank you, kind sir," she replied in kind, a coquettish smile curling her lips.

"Anything for you, darling," he told her with a wink and carefully shut the door once she was fully inside.

Once inside she turned as far as she could in her seat with a chuckle to look at the couple in the back. She met Honor's gaze and smiled at her. Honor and Josh both smiled back. Honor reached out a hand, which Rory grasped, and squeezed.

"I'm so happy to see you again Rory," Honor told her just as Logan slid behind the steering wheel.

"It's nice to see you too, Honor," Rory admitted honestly. "And you, Josh. It's been a lot of years."

"It has." Josh said with a nod of greeting.

"And you look fabulous!" Honor commented cheerfully as Logan pulled the car back out on to the street and headed in the direction of the restaurant where they'd be leaving his sister and brother-in-law.

"Well thank you." Rory told her with a laugh. "You look pretty great too, both of you. I remember seeing you at an event a couple years ago and thinking, 'boy, they just keep getting better looking with age!'"

"Aww," Honor's smile turned soft and happy. "You should have come and said hello."

Rory shrugged. "I don't even remember which event it was. I was going to pop over to see you, but I spotted your mother with you at the last moment and decided to forego that experience."

"Ah, well," Logan's sister sighed and wrinkled her nose slightly. "I guess I can't blame you too much for that. All these years later and poor Josh still avoids her like the plague. Dad too."

"Dad isn't nearly as bad now as he used to be." Logan commented lightly.

"Maybe to you." Josh retorted. "I'm still just the guy who dared to marry his precious princess."

"Oh stop," Honor laughed and lightly slapped at her husband's arm. "He isn't as bad as he used to be."

"Well," Josh admitted, "He likes the kids."

Rory smiled at the couple and chuckled lightly at Josh's comment.

"They are definitely better grandparents than they ever were parents." Honor added and raised an eyebrow to Rory.

"I guess that's good to hear." Rory replied and Honor's smile widened again.

"I'm so excited for you Rory," she told her sincerely. "I know some people make out pregnancy to be this huge ordeal, but I loved being pregnant. Delivery was no walk in the park, but every ache and pain, every weird craving, is worth it in the end."

"That's what I've heard." Rory said. She glanced briefly at Logan and decided it was time to redirect. "How are the kids? I heard from a pretty reliable source that they made out like bandits this Christmas."

"They're really great. And yeah, someone spoiled them horribly with lavish gifts." Honor answered.

"They weren't lavish gifts." Logan complained at the pointed way she'd made the last comment. "They're simply, European."

Josh snorted. "European, my ass. Well let me just say 'karma.'"

"We wouldn't do that to Rory. She'd never give the kids the most annoying, loudest gifts she could find for them." Honor retorted. "She's far too nice."

Rory laughed at them all. "I hate to disappoint you Honor, I've definitely tracked down some annoyingly loud or obnoxious gifts for my friends' kids through the years. One of the perks of being an aunt, even if only an honorary one, is that I can give them those kinds of toys and then send them home."

"See," Logan argued.

"Well, then, I second Josh. May karma kick both your asses." Honor complained and they all laughed.

Minutes later they were pulling smoothly to a stop at the curb in front of a relatively trendy Greek restaurant and Logan shifted in his seat to look at his sister. "So, I'll see you on Sunday before I head out."

"I better." She warned with a sternly pointed finger in his direction.

"You will." He informed her. "I promised the kids I'd come by one more time before I go."

She smiled. "Oh, well, okay. I'll see you Sunday then." And blew a cheeky kiss in his direction. "Rory, we'll talk soon."

"Bye, guys." Josh said and slipped out the door, reaching a hand back for Honor. She winked at them teasingly as she took his hand and let him help her out. As the door swung shut they heard her murmur, "my hero."

Rory and Logan met each other's eyes and after a moment burst into laughter. They straightened in their seats and when his laughter had calmed sufficiently, he pulled the car back on to the road and headed for their own destination.

"Your sister is still a whirlwind." Rory commented fifteen minutes later once they'd settled in at their own semi-private table at a restaurant they had frequently eaten at when they were at Yale. It was quiet enough they could talk easily, but busy and just loud enough that you didn't need to constantly worry about being overheard. "She hasn't changed a bit."

"She hasn't. Well, actually, she may be just slightly more off the wall than she was before." He agreed. "Josh is just the same as always though."

"He's still perfectly nice." Rory argued and it was an old argument.

"Perfectly." Logan agreed with a certain tone of arrogance.

She chuckled. "Though he did aim a very subtle zinger at you with that karma comment. So, he shows some sign of growing ease."

"Give him another 30 years and we may even be able to debate."

Now she laughed. "Oh, he's not that bad. Not everyone is as loquacious as you or I."

"Don't I know it." Logan agreed. "Seriously though, every time I talk to her, or I'm back here for a little while, I'm happy to see that whatever it is between them that fits for them, it's still there. They're still in love with each other and they still work. Even after all these years. It's nice to know that it can work for people in our circles."

"It is." Rory agreed with him softly and frowned at her water while she fiddled with the base of the glass. "Though I don't know there needs to be specification for people in upper class circles. I've known just as many people who would be considered middle, or even lower class who can't make a relationship that seems perfect in all ways work."

She shrugged a little bit. "And I've seen couples from all walks of life that don't seem like they should be a couple at all, that have held strong all their lives."

"So, what's the secret do you think?" Logan asked her seriously. And to him it was a serious question. She glanced up and met his eyes, he held her gaze for several long moments to impress upon her just how serious he was.

"I don't know that there really is a secret." She finally admitted. "I guess it just comes down to not quitting. Refusing to walk away."

He stared at her and wondered if she realized what she'd just said. The two of them were guilty of having done both those things. Repeatedly through the years. And as always, he can't help but wonder how they'd be different if they hadn't. If they hadn't given up, if they had fought harder, if they'd been willing to sacrifice, or unwilling to let the other sacrifice.

They lapsed into silence, both lost in thought, until their waiter came to take their orders. Once they were alone again Logan decided that there was little reason to avoid the conversation they needed to have. However, easing into it would probably make it more comfortable for both of them.

"So you were in Nantucket for Christmas," he began. "I know you'd mentioned your mom and Luke, and Dad, already knew about the baby, what about Emily?"

"She knows now." Rory answered wryly. "Mom and Grandma came to some agreement that Mom and Luke would spend a week at Christmas, and two weeks in summer, in Nantucket with Grandma. They were planning on going out on the 23rd for the week. I didn't want whatever Grandma's reaction might be to put a damper on the holiday for everyone, so I headed out there the Sunday before. I ended up telling her during dinner the night I got there."

Logan winced. "How'd it go?"

"It was, I don't know, strange I guess." Rory said with a sigh. "I told her Sunday night and she didn't speak to me again until Wednesday. The whole time she's giving me the silent treatment I figure she's like a boiling pot of water with the lid clamped on. Building pressure, right, and when she finally let loose, she was gonna blow."

"I take it that's not what happened." He commented softly. "I don't remember any explosions in the news on Wednesday."

Rory half chuckled and shook her head. "That's not what happened." She paused briefly to take a sip of water and when she continued she's got a small, slightly sad smile on her face. "We ended up talking about things for most of the day. She wasn't really angry at all by that time. She explained she'd kept silent because she didn't want to react with anger, like she did when my mom was young and told her and Grandpa about her pregnancy. She told me she didn't want to end up saying something that she didn't really mean, or that she wouldn't be able to take back after the heat of the moment had passed. And she didn't want to say something that I wouldn't be able to forgive."

"She didn't want to repeat past mistakes." Logan summarized with a slow nod.

"Yeah," she agreed.

He reached across the table and touched her hand, drawing her gaze to his face. "That's a good thing, isn't it?"

"It is, of course it is." Rory replied and smiled that sad smile again. "Mostly she was just sad, Logan. Sad that I was single and pregnant, and apparently repeating the cycle my mother began when she had me. Sad that I'd been in any kind of relationship with a man who wasn't really mine. Sad that Grandpa wasn't here to hear my announcement." The last made her choke on a sob and she pulled her hand away from his to wipe her eyes with her napkin.

Logan swallowed against his own flood of emotion too. He had always found it difficult when Rory cried, always felt like he needed to fix whatever hurt her. And he knew nothing but time would ease this hurt. He missed Richard, and often felt the pang of loss when he thought of the elder Gilmore. He could hardly imagine how much all three of the Gilmore ladies still suffered, how they each differently suffered, with the absence of the single man that had always seemed to hold them all together like glue. He gave Rory a couple minutes to compose herself.

"I think he'd be proud of you." Logan eventually told her, somber and serious, and directly addressing that painful issue. "Obviously he wouldn't have been enamoured with many of the more delicate details of our arrangement these past few years, but he would have been proud of you for—" he paused trying to find the right word, words, and finally shook his head when he couldn't dig out the right ones. "He would be proud of you, Rory. He would be."

Her eyes flooded with tears again and she dabbed her eyes with the napkin, hoping to catch them before they had the chance to fall. When she felt she could speak again she nodded, and she reached over and touched his hand. He flipped his and held on.

"That's what Grandma told me too." She told him. "I imagine he'd have a lot to say, about all of it, but Grandma insists that he would be proud of me for the way I'm handling things. Or trying to handle things."

"I agree with her, wholeheartedly." Logan said and squeezed her hand. She smiled at him and squeezed back. After a minute she released his hand and pulled hers back.

"Yeah, so," Rory continued a minute later. "In the end, it was good. We talked a lot that day. She gave me a private tour at the museum the next, walked me through her whole whaling history spiel - which is far more graphic than I think is really needs to be, and I think she takes great delight in trying to freak people out."

Logan choked on a laugh but, knowing Emily Gilmore, agreed. "Probably."

"And the rest of the holiday was good." She told him. "The topic of the baby wasn't the center of anyone's focus but we didn't tiptoe around it either. It was all, surprisingly, normal."

"Gilmore normal?" He asked.

"No, just normal, normal. It was actually really nice." She admitted. "I don't think Mom and Grandma really fought even once. Grandma didn't make any even remotely snide comments about Luke. It was just nice."

He smiled. "It sounds nice."

"It was." Then she frowned slightly at the memory of that breakfast, the day after Christmas. "Oh, well, I guess there was one small disagreement, but it was more a round-table kind of thing than Mom vs. Grandma, or Grandma vs. Luke. But it wasn't a fight, just differing opinions."

He didn't ask what the disagreement was about though he would guess it had been about him. Specifically, about Rory changing her plans to come back early, even if it was just a day early, to meet him. She fell silent for a minute then decided to follow his lead and redirected.

"How did talking to Mitchum go?" She asked. "In London, I mean?"

"Actually," Logan told her, and she smiled at the way his face sort of crunched up to somehow perfectly match the incredulous tone of his voice. "Not bad. O was right. He wasn't nearly as upset as I expected he might be when I told him we'd called off the engagement and that she'd moved back to Paris."

"Really?" Rory questioned plainly suspicious.

"Really. I mean, he wasn't happy, and he demanded a full explanation and details, but there were no explosions in London that day either." He said, referring back to the reaction she'd expected from Emily. "He's actually more pissed with Odette's parents than either of us. They'd told Mom and Dad that I'd asked permission to marry her, and that I'd concocted some elaborate romantic proposal with their help. I'd say he's feeling foolish at how easily he was used and more, that through all of it he'd never even thought to ask me, well, anything about it."

"So that's over then. Officially, I mean." Rory concluded and studied his easy expression.

Logan chuckled. "It's over."

"Is there going to be some kind of announcement or anything?" Rory asked. "Once word gets out about the baby, won't there be questions?"

"Odette actually thought of the best way to deal with that." Logan told her.

"She did?" Rory wondered in surprise.

"She did." He confirmed and then explained. "PR is her thing. She suggested we not put out any kind of formal announcement of the end of the engagement right now because that puts a date to it. For all intents and purposes, we simply go our separate ways. When and if questions arise after news of the baby gets out, we simply explain, probably by releasing or leaking a statement, that mine and Odette's relationship was based in friendship, and that though we remain close friends, we quietly and amicably split late last Spring. If necessary, we explain that the events we attended through the summer and fall, were to fulfill obligations we'd previously committed to as a couple." Logan shrugged slightly.

"Isn't it relatively common knowledge that she moved in with you in London during the summer though?" Rory asked.

"Common knowledge? No, not really. Her moving in was more illusion than anything else. She still worked in Paris, still had her own place there. Her life was still in Paris." He told her with a slight frown, trying to make Rory understand what his time, his supposed life with Odette was really like. "The time she spent in London with me was mostly just for event obligations, with a little bit of padding on either side. Or when one of her parents was expected in the city."

Rory just looked at him, eyes clear, and for the first time willing to listen as he talked about Odette. "Sometimes that meant she was in town for a couple nights, sometimes for a week or more. Right after she 'moved in' at the beginning of August was the longest stretch because one or another of her parents was in London nearly the whole month." He took a drink. "Even then she was still going back and forth to Paris for work but that was the longest consecutive stretch."

"Do you guys really think people will believe that?" Rory asked. "That it'll be enough to dispel anyone's questions about the baby and the timing of it's conception."

"There will always be people who wonder, Ace." Logan told her honestly. "But if it's Odette and I who release the statement that we ended the engagement last Spring, that we're still close friends, and even that we're happy for one another in our new relationships, who's to nay say us?"

"Her parents?" Rory suggested sarcastically. "Your mother? Anyone who's seen you together in the last five months? You've been acting the parts of an engaged couple all this time, only now going your separate ways. People will notice that, won't they?"

He looked at her hard. "The 'Engaged Couple Act' was always just an act Rory. Our behaviour with each other, the way we've interacted when at parties or events, or even just out for dinner, it never changed from the first time we accompanied one another somewhere, to the last. We never acted as anything more than close friends in public. Because that's all we ever were and we knew it. We always knew the act would end and neither of us had any wish to have to explain away some grand passion we'd faked for the public eye."

"We were never more than friends. Just as we are now." He asserted and was satisfied to see her nod. "So yes, there may be people who wonder, but who cares? I don't because I know the truth. And we'll make sure that the important people in our lives know it too."

"I just don't want our kid to grow up with a cloud of scandal surrounding them, Logan." She finally said. "I did that, and while it didn't regularly cause problems for me, I hated it. I don't want that for our kid."

"I don't either," Logan assured her. "But we can't control what people think. All we can do at this point is paint a picture that sheds the least amount of damage. To all of us. Rory you're the one who said it when you were in London: it wouldn't matter who was with me first, or how long you and I had been seeing each other, in the eyes of the world I was engaged to Odette. There's no way for us to release a formal statement right now that won't raise eyebrows when news of our kid makes the rounds."

"Maybe we should keep the patern—" Rory began half-heartedly and was more grateful than she would admit when he interrupted.

He reached over suddenly and grabbed her hand tightly, his words quiet and harsh. "Don't even think about finishing that sentence." He told her and even though he tried hard, he knew he failed to keep the depth of his emotion from seeping into his voice. "You may not want me, and if that's the case, well I'll have to accept that, won't I? But I want our child. I want to hold him and protect him. I want to read her stories and play games with her. I want to go to little league games and dance recitals. I want to share my name, and my love, and I want to be there every damn day. So don't you dare suggest that we hide the paternity of our baby. Because I will fight you to my last breath on that."

At some point during his speech Rory began crying. She hadn't really wanted to hide the truth of the baby's paternity, had never even considered it a viable option before that exact moment. And even if it had been what he wanted to do, she wasn't sure she could have gone through with it. Now hearing him say he wanted the baby, hearing him describe how intimately he wanted to be involved in raising it, made her realize just how much that was what she had wanted to hear. His words, the obvious passion and intent of them, made her realize that any other response probably would have broken her in ways she may never have been fully able to recover from. And so she wept.

She wept at the weight, one she hadn't even realized she'd been carrying, lifted from her heart. She cried as the fears and worries she hadn't wanted to acknowledge began to fade. She knew their future was far from certain. There were details that would need to be worked out, and issues that would need to be resolved; but for the first time since her pregnancy test had turned positive, she felt hope.

* * *

Did you wonder how Rory decided to make the jump from autobiography to novel? As with many things in her life, she needed a bit of a nudge once she realized she couldn't publish the story she'd originally started to tell. I like Jess. I've never really seen him as a long-term love interest for Rory, the way many people do. However, I've always felt that given the right circumstances, he and Rory could be the best of friends. Officially, finally, becoming related may have been just the thing they needed to clear the air of any lingering emotion.

When will the next chapter be out? I'm going to have an absolutely INSANE weekend starting tomorrow evening - no not Thanksgiving since I'm in Canada - so chapter 9 will be coming tomorrow morning or early afternoon!

Till then, keep warm and keep reading!


	9. What If's And The Wonder Of Somedays

I don't have a ton of time for messages today so I'll keep it short...

Thank you everyone for your reviews for the last chapter. I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out and with the way you (those who've reviewed) seemed to like it. Hopefully you'll like this one too. I guess we'll see.

And to all my American readers - Happy Thanksgiving!

_I don't own any part of _Gilmore Girls._ I've borrowed the story premise and characters for my own story continuation and personal fulfillment after the _Netflix_ revival left me unsatisfied with it's cliffhanger ending. _

Enjoy this chapter!

* * *

**Chapter 9: What If's And The Wonder of Somedays**

They exited the elevator and approached their destination at a slow walk. His hand rested lightly at the small of her back and he felt the slight tension that pervaded her muscles, even though she showed no outward sign of stress. Before they reached the door they were headed for, he pulled her to a stop at the side of hallway.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Logan asked her, simultaneously searching her gaze as it met his for the answer.

"I'm the one who suggested it. Remember?" She replied with an amused smirk. "Should I ask you the same question?"

"I can practically feel your nervousness with my fingers, Ace. You know I'm willing to do whatever it takes to give us an honest and real chance of making things work between the two of us. But are you sure you want to do _this_?" He repeated the question.

Rory nearly rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't have suggested it, if I wasn't willing."

"Then why are you so nervous you're practically jumping out of your skin?" He asked.

"I don't know, okay. It's just weird, I guess." She told him and he was relieved to hear only honesty in her tone. "I mean, I may have done some sessions with a counsellor at Yale, but that was focused more on my schooling than on my personal life."

"Except you did talk about your personal life. You told me that years ago. And you said that it really helped you get everything straight in your head and to sort out your feelings on things." Logan reminded her. "You also told me that both your mom and Emily found therapy useful in helping them to reach a better understanding of each other and get along better since Richard died."

"I know, I know. It's just weird. When I was at Yale it was just me and the counsellor. Now you're going to be in there." Rory admitted.

"But that's the point." He said confused by her possible meaning. "It'd be kind of difficult for us to work on _our issues_ if we're not both there."

"I know," she stressed her words and lifted a hand to rest over his heart on his chest. "I think it's okay to be nervous, Logan. This is something that neither of us have done before in this kind of setting. Once we get through this first session, I'm sure I'll be fine."

"I just don't want to force you in to anything that will make you uncomfortable. _That_ I don't think will help." He said softly as he covered her hand with his.

She smiled at him, and though he could still see nerves, still feel her tension, he could also see her openness and determination. "We said we'd give it a few session, to see if it helps before we reevaluate. It's not like we fight all the time, or secretly hate each other. We just need to work on communicating more openly, and on trusting each other more implicitly on the big things. Something that even when our relationship was at it's best, we still sorta sucked at."

"Okay," he agreed with a nod after a minute and then led her again toward their first doctors appointment of the day.

Fifteen minutes later they looked toward the door as their therapist entered the room. He was an attractive man perhaps a decade older than Rory and Logan, and smiled in greeting as his eyes met first Logan's and then Rory's.

"Logan," he greeted congenially, reaching out a hand to shake both of theirs in turn. "Rory. I'm Dr. Townsend but please call Matt. I find it's much easier for us to work together if we're not constantly worried about formalities." He gestured towards the couch the couple had been sitting on while waiting for him. "Sit, sit, and let's get started."

After getting settled once again, Logan spoke. "We really appreciate your fitting us in this week. I'm just beginning to transition my office back to the States and I'm only in town for a few days this time."

"Oh, it was no problem," the therapist replied and glanced between the couple, then suggested. "Why don't we begin simply with you telling me a bit about yourselves and why you're here."

"I wouldn't even know where to start." Rory admitted on slight, obviously nervous laugh. Logan reached for her hand and after lacing his fingers through hers, squeezed lightly.

Matt Townsend smiled. "The beginning usually works."

Logan and Rory chuckle and it's Logan who starts. "Well, we're both from Connecticut. I was born and technically raised in Hartford, while Rory was born in Hartford but her mother moved with her to a small town outside of the city when she was a baby."

"My mom didn't want to raise me the way she'd been raised - as part of Hartford high society - because she hated it. She found it restrictive, boring, and well, she just didn't want that life anymore and didn't want it for me at all. She had me at sixteen and ran away with me not long after." Rory picked up the story, giving the bare facts without too much elaboration. "We didn't have a lot of contact with my grandparents until I was sixteen myself. I'd gotten into a private prep school, an expensive one, and we needed my grandparents help to pay for it. Going to school there was my first real experience with the world mom had run away from. It was eye-opening to say the least and, at first anyways, lived up to all the really poor expectations I had based on everything my mom and my dad had told me about high society."

"I would say that it wasn't until she was at Yale and started spending time with me, and with my friends, that her own opinions really diverted from her mothers." Logan interjected. "And Ace, your dad's opinions on society weren't ever as negative as your mom's were they?"

Rory shook her head. "No, Dad's bad experiences had more to do with his parents than with society itself. He was always pretty clear on the fact that while there was certainly bad in it, there could be good too. But then contact with my dad was sporadic at best until after I was at Yale. Before that he'd pop into our lives for a couple weeks or months, and then disappear again for another year or so." She frowned for moment.

"My opinion of society life was already changing before I met Logan, from my own experiences at Chilton, at Yale, and even just with my grandparents. But, he's probably right in that there was a more drastic divergence between my feelings and my mothers of the lifestyle and the people of Hartford high society." Rory admitted. "My mother always blamed Logan for those changes but it wasn't him, or not just him that caused it."

"So Logan, I assume you're from the same society set that Rory's mother came from?" Matt asked for clarification.

"Yes," Logan replied simply.

"And the two of you never crossed paths before you were both attending Yale?" Matt prodded further. "As I understand it, the circle of people whom would comprise the high society set wouldn't be all too large."

"I'm a couple years older than Rory. She was just starting sophomore year, and I was just returning as a junior after a year off with my friends. Before Yale she was at Chilton and my parents sent me to a number of boarding schools, both here in the States and abroad." Logan explained.

"I see," was all the therapist had to say to that.

"We ran in to each other a number of times through the fall that year, and then started dating casually after Christmas. Before the end of that year at Yale we were exclusive." Logan finished. "Except for one stretch of time during my senior year we were together until Rory graduated. Then we went our separate ways."

"He's glossing over it a bit but that's the gist of our Yale years. We ran into each other again about five years ago and started casually seeing one another again. Now I'm pregnant and we figure we owe ourselves and our child another chance to be an actual _us_." Rory concluded.

Logan glanced sideways at her and rolled his eyes. "Now she's the one glossing."

"Alright, so that's the gist of it," Matt assumed. "Let's go back to Yale."

"Okay." Logan agreed and Rory nodded.

They spent the next twenty minutes talking about their Yale years. Through delicate questioning, they ended up disclosing all the major salient details of those years to the doctor: her time off from Yale, their first major fight and the ensuing separation, including Logan's actions during it, getting back together, moving in together, Logan's accident, London, his leaving the family business, his family's treatment of Rory, and her mother's dislike of Logan. Matt asked questions to clarify details, or as needed to encourage the couple to continue to talk, and he watched them closely as they spoke to each other and to him. Eventually their chatter slowed, they quieted. He glanced between them and prodded again.

"You said you went your separate ways after Rory graduated. From everything you've told me, I wouldn't have guessed that your relationship would have ended quite so abruptly. What happened?" He asked and watched as Rory pulled in a deep breath, as Logan grimaced.

"I proposed." Logan finally answered and Matt nodded. "Rory had already turned down one job offer here because she was hopeful about an internship with the Times in New York. Then she found out that she didn't get that either and she had no other offers. But I had this offer in California, a partnership in Pal Alto. I wanted her to come with me, and I guess I wanted to know that no matter what came next for either of us, we'd be doing it together. So, I proposed."

"The night before my graduation ceremony." Rory sighed with nostalgic frustration. "Here I was about to graduate, I had no job offers, no prospects, nothing. On one hand it was terrifying and on the other, it was surreal and vaguely exciting, I guess. Then he proposed. I wasn't ready for it, at all. And I couldn't see how I could go out to explore my options if I was engaged or married to him and we were settled in California. I couldn't see taking that step when I couldn't promise to always be there. So, I told him that I couldn't marry him yet. It wasn't marriage that I was opposed to, just the timing. I wanted to do long distance again for a while, like when he'd been in London but, well, he didn't want that. Then it was just over."

"I was stupid. Not necessarily for proposing, though looking back I can see that the timing was wrong," Logan added. "But when she told me she couldn't marry me I panicked. I gave her an ultimatum - marry me or nothing. Like I said, I was stupid."

"Ultimatums are typically a sign of a larger issue," Matt commented. "Fear, insecurity, which you've already acknowledged. But have you asked yourself Logan, if she had ended up saying yes after the ultimatum, would you have been able to trust that marrying you was what she really wanted? If she'd said yes, would you have eventually wondered the same thing?"

He watched looks of surprise cross both of their faces and saw them glance at each other.

"I guess I hadn't thought of that." He admitted slowly.

Rory frowned. "It could have easily become a point of contention between us down the road. I could have come to resent him for essentially forcing me to say yes. He could have begun to question whether I would have said yes, eventually, without the ultimatum."

"Yes," Matt agreed with her summation.

"I suppose I can see that. It never occurred to me back then or through the years, but yeah I can see how that could happen." Logan murmured.

After a couple moments of silence Matt decided to move things forward. "So you went to California Logan, and Rory, I assume you ended up with a job somewhere here?"

The couple both chuckle. "No, I ended up with the Obama campaign. More than eighteen months on a bus or on a plane travelling multiple times across the country, and back again with the press corps. It was horrible and amazing, and everything in between all at the same time. I was in Iowa less than a week after graduation and wasn't in any one place for more than a couple days at a time until the inauguration."

"That sounds like a very demanding position." He replied.

"It definitely was but it's not something I'd ever do differently." Rory told him.

"Would you have taken that job if you'd said yes to Logan's proposal? Either before or after the ultimatum." He asked her seriously and saw Logan's frown.

"I," she began slowly, obviously considering the answer before she spoke. "It was such a great experience and it really taught a lot about the job, but no, I probably wouldn't have taken it if I'd said yes. I would have felt obliged to look for work in San Francisco."

"Ace, I would never have told you not to take that job. I would never have insisted you only work near me." He said quietly, earnest, honest emotion filling the words. "I know I mentioned the San Fran papers when we talked after the proposal, but that was because you hadn't had any other offers and I wanted you to know there were west coast options too."

"I know you wouldn't have done that. But the thing is Logan, of my own volition, I would have limited my job search to the San Francisco area. That's what I meant when I told you back then that I wanted the wide-open opportunities. If I had said yes, _I _would have narrowed my options all on my own. You wouldn't have needed to tell me to, or ask me to, I would have just done it." Rory told him. "It was never that I didn't want to say yes to you, it was that right then I _couldn't_ say yes."

Logan's eyes closed briefly as so much of what happened all those years ago suddenly made more sense. It was as if the lens through which he viewed the past had always been just slightly out of focus, and now it had been adjusted so that he could look back and finally see the entire situation clearly. He nodded and met her eyes.

"That wasn't what I wanted. That was never how I expected you to feel." He finally murmured.

She smiled at him and this time she squeezed his hand in reassurance. "I know."

"So, what happened then?" Matt asked them again, directing the conversation forward in time.

"Not a lot for a few years." Logan began, looking at the doctor again. "I did my thing for several years on the west coast. I was moderately successful I guess, and after a few years my dad started reaching out. I brushed him off for a while; eventually I suppose you could say he made me an offer I couldn't refuse. I was willing to go back to the family fold, but I refused to be under my father's thumb. He wanted me back bad enough that he agreed. I sold my stake in California and moved to London. I've been running my own division of HPG from there for nearly six years now."

Matt nodded and glanced at Rory. "And you?"

"After the campaign I did a few short stints at papers in the New England area mostly. I never really found anything at a paper that felt like a good fit for me though, so after a couple years I decided to start freelancing." Rory explained with a fond smile at the memories. "It wasn't always easy, but I was always able to make ends meet. And I was able to indulge my dreams of travel, so I can't complain. I saw a lot of the world I probably wouldn't have seen otherwise. But I never made the name for myself that I'd always planned and hoped to."

"Why not?" The doctor asked her simply.

"That was the big question for a long time." Rory admitted with a bit of a chuckle. "Turns out the big name or the fame if you will, it wasn't what I wanted so much as it was what I felt was expected of me. I liked what I was doing but the goal wasn't ever really mine."

"So you're not working as a reporter now?" He wondered aloud.

"No, not anymore. Though that is a recent change. I started to flounder a couple years ago. I started losing interest in constantly being on the go. Then my grandfather died. I guess that's really when my feelings on how I'd been working and what I'd been doing for most of the past decade really began to change." Rory told him.

"She started writing a book a few months ago." Logan added on her behalf.

"What type of book?" Matt asked.

"It started as something of an autobiography, not quite that because it was about me and my mom. It eventually morphed into a novel, fiction." She explained that same nostalgic smile gracing her lips. "It's still based loosely on our lives, but it's changed so that it's not exactly our story."

"And when did the two of you reconnect?" He questioned, redirecting the path of the conversation once again.

The couple laughed and Logan launched into the story of running in to her again in Hamburg, not long after he returned to HPG. They shared how they had kept things to a casual level between them - not necessarily on an emotional level but as far as expectations between them, they were casual. Logan explained how, nearly all along, he'd hoped for more but was reluctant to directly ask or push for it because he simply wasn't willing to lose what he did have with her. They told the doctor about the relationships outside of their own that they'd had during the same period, from Logan's fake girlfriend and engagement, to Rory's mostly platonic but all too real boyfriends. Rory described how and why she finally ended their arrangement and then about finding out she was pregnant, and the turmoil that had initially caused her. She talked about telling her parents and about going to London to tell Logan, and discovering that everything she'd thought she knew about his and Odette's relationship was false.

"And that pretty much brings us to now," Logan concluded. "After I told my dad the truth about my relationship with Odette, and about my relationship with Rory and the pregnancy, it was an easy decision to move back to the States. I knew that if I wanted any chance to be the kind of father that I've always hoped to be, I would need to be here. It's not a simple or easy task to move my entire office and much of the staff here, but we've started the process. It will be a couple months probably before I'm back in New York full time but it'll be worth it."

"Did you consider the possibility of Rory moving to London? It sounds as if it would have been the simplest option." Matt eventually asked. He hadn't had to do much to direct the couple's storytelling after his initial question about them getting back together. "Rory has been travelling for most of the past decade. Wouldn't it have made more sense that she move to London and settle there with you?"

"I offered." Rory said. "He'd already decided to come back."

"Is that what you want? Him coming back to the US, the two of you raising your child here?" He asked her and Rory shrugged.

"I would have gone to London if we'd decided that was the best course, because you're right Matt, it would have been the simplest option." Rory frowned and glanced at Logan for a brief moment. "But Logan was right too when he assumed it wasn't what I really wanted to do. I would have gone, I'm just not sure I would have been happy to be there long-term, or permanently. Not to say it would have been a permanent relocation. I think we've proved pretty well that the future is ever changing, but I will admit I was pretty relieved when he told me that he was moving back."

Matt nodded in understanding. He had been honestly pleased with their openness through this whole session, and with their willingness to discuss anything. Many patients, especially couples, were hesitant to simply voice all their foibles the first time they sat on his couch. This pair held very little back. At least so far.

"So Logan has begun the process of moving back to the US, and intends on settling in New York. And where are you living Rory? Are you planning on moving to New York as well?" He prodded, beginning to turn their conversation to the future.

"I'm in Hartford right now, mostly," Rory admitted. "But I've been staying in Stars Hollow with friends, or my mom and step-dad, a few days each month, and I'm in New York at another friend's house a couple days here and there as well."

"But your home is in Hartford?" He surmised based on her statement, though to his experienced ear that wasn't assured.

"Sort of. Not really. I've been living in my grandparent house the last several months." Rory let out a huff of breath. "Finding a place of my own is on the list."

"You don't want to live in your grandparent's home?" He asked. "You mentioned earlier that your grandmother had moved to Nantucket recently. Is she planning on selling the house, has she asked you to move out?"

"No, no. She talked about selling it in the fall, even met with a realtor, but she told me over the holidays that I was welcome to stay in the house as long as I wanted. She said that even though she couldn't live there anymore, she couldn't bring herself to actually list it either." Rory shared. "It's just big. It's too much house for just me."

"But it won't be just you for long. In less than six months you'll have the baby as well." Matt reminded her.

"True," Rory agreed. "I'm just not sure that I want to so firmly tie myself to Hartford. With Logan in New York, it may make more sense to find a place in the city."

"With Logan?" Matt wondered and saw the couple exchange a loaded glance.

"I suggested that." Logan admitted.

"I don't want to rush things." Rory said with reproach. "I don't think we should move in together again until we know whether we're going to be able to make things work this time."

Logan frowned. "So how do we figure that out? I'm going to be back and forth between London and here for the next two months probably. When I am here, you're in Hartford. Or at your mom's, or Lane's, or Paris's. When are we supposed to figure out if we work, if we're never together?"

"Logan we haven't been officially a couple in ten years. We can't just say 'okay we're together again' and move back in together." She argued.

"We've basically been dating for five years." He countered. "And we've co-habitated off and on throughout that whole period. Christ, Rory, you stayed with me in London for nearly two months last fall."

"Yes," she agreed but her tone was far from amiable when she continued. "And we were lying to nearly everyone we know the whole time."

"No, _you_ were lying to nearly everyone you know the whole time." He shot back. "My sister and my friends always knew we were together. Odette knew we were together from the night she and I met. You and I had dinner with several members of my team and my staff, on multiple occasions. The only people I didn't make it clear to that you and I were seeing one another, was my parents, and even then, I'm sure Dad knew we'd seen each other at events on occasion."

"You know why I didn't tell anyone." Rory argued.

"Rory I know why I didn't overtly push you for more over the past five years. And I know why you didn't tell your mom or your grandparents about us sooner. I even understand why you wouldn't have said anything to Paris and Doyle, or to Lane, once my supposed relationship with Odette was being flashed around in the papers. But we were together for close to two years before I met Odette. I've never understood why it was so important to you to keep us such an absolute secret from people, or why you bothered lying or dating other men to cover it up." Logan admitted.

"No one in my life would have approved of me casually dating someone. Look at how people reacted when we were at Yale and were string-less." Rory responded and Logan immediately started shaking his head.

"No one thought poorly of you when we were dating casually Rory." Logan argued. "Everyone looked at me like I'd broken some sacred covenant, but no one looked down at you for it. And I don't believe anyone, short of Richard and Emily, would have cared one bit if you'd simply told them from the start that we were seeing each other again."

She scoffed incredulously, "You don't think my friends or family would have cared once you started seeing Odette, or once your engagement had been announced?"

"Rory," he told her seriously, his eyes grave with intent. "If you had told anyone, literally anyone about us dating again - even just casually - I never would have agreed to help Odette out as anything more than a friend. How many times do I have to tell you, the only reason I even got into that whole arrangement with Odette is because you were so adamant that we were nothing, we were Vegas and you didn't care what I did when we weren't together."

"Logan-" she began, her voice quieter, her tone softer.

"No, you have to get it through your thick skull that being with you, it was never a casual thing for me. You were the one who insisted on the Vegas agreement, you were the one who wanted a casual relationship. I wanted you. Start to finish." Logan stated firmly, frustration with the situation and with her plainly evident in his voice.

"I didn't think we could be more than casual Logan," she finally said. "You were in London. I lived in New York and spent most of my time in the field traversing the world. We weren't exactly in a position to be anything more than casual."

He looked at her and she saw pain in his eyes. "And yet here we are."

"I'm going to stop you there for now." Matt said interrupting. He was somewhat surprised by the turn in their conversation. "We're almost out of time for today, but I do have a few questions that if you can't answer right now, I want you to think about until our next session."

"First, Rory. You've said that you didn't think the two of you could be more than casual, yet the two of you carried on a relationship, essentially a long distance relationship for five years. You've said that none of the relationships you had outside of your casual arrangement with Logan were of a sexual nature, so you've also been sexually exclusive with Logan for five years." Matt summed up and continued. "If you remove the word casual, it's not out of line to say that the two of you have had a sexually exclusive, long distance relationship all this time."

"I had a one night stand last spring." Rory admitted and Logan chuckled. "It was far from my finest moment and only happened the one time but it did happen."

"Okay but besides that one incident, would you agree that my statement is true?" Matt asked.

"I guess," Rory agreed.

"I would also say that through the course of those five years you both went to a lot of trouble making it seem as if your relationships with other people meant more than what they did." The doctor said.

"She did." Logan answered.

"You did too, Logan." Matt said before Rory had a chance to say anything. "For a number of reasons, you carried on a very public relationship and engagement with another woman. The reasons you did so are valid and they do matter, but that you did it, is still just as true."

Logan shrugged but agreed. "Then yes, _we_ did."

"Then what I want you to think about is why you're here, why you're in my office. Think about why you're willing to sit on that couch and answer my questions. When you know the answer, I'd like to hear it."

Immediately and without hesitation they both responded. "Because I love her." Logan answered confidently at the same time that Rory's own voice said in quiet assurance. "I still love him."

Matt smiled. "Because you love one another. That's the right answer. But it's not all of it. Take time and really think about it. We'll start there next time you're here."

Less than fifteen minutes later they were in the backseat of a town car and headed toward their next appointment of the day. They were silent, both thinking about those final moments of the session and about what other reasons for their willingness to do therapy Matt was expecting to hear. Yet even lost in their own thoughts, their fingers were still twined, hands still holding tight to the other. The car eventually pulled to a stop in front of another building and the driver got out to open the door for them. They went right into the building and checked in with the receptionist.

Within moments they were ushered into another doctor's treatment room and asked to wait. It was during the wait for the doctor that they finally broke the silence.

"Well, we knew that some parts of the sessions weren't going to be comfortable." Logan said.

Rory sighed. "It wasn't too bad." She commented. "And it's not as if we have a great many secrets from one another."

"True. I suppose it went well enough." He agreed and smirked. "For therapy."

"If it helps us to be sure, about us and about everything, it's worth it though, isn't it?" Rory said.

"I agree." He replied and took her hand again. "I want us to work. I'm sure but I know you're still worried, so I'll do whatever it takes so that we both know we can do this."

"I want to be as sure as you are. I just," she began to explain but he cut her off gently with a shake of his head and by kissing the knuckles of her hand.

"You're just not yet, Ace, and that's okay. We just have to do what we've got to do, until you are." He told her.

She sighed again and gave his hand a slight squeeze. "I'm still not being very fair to you though, am I? Here you are saying all the right things, doing all the things I secretly wished you would, but would have been too afraid to ask you to do, and I'm still the one holding back."

"Hey," he murmured though his tone was serious, his words firm. "I'm saying and doing all these things because everything I want is right in front of me. You, a family with you, the whole deal. But you've got to want it too Rory, or it wouldn't be worth a damn."

"I just, I don't want us to rush in to something, everything, because it's 'what we always wanted' and then have it fall apart in a few months, or a couple years, or whatever." Rory tried to explain and he heard the building emotions in her voice. "Because it's not just about us anymore, you know. We've got to consider that in a few months there's going to be a baby that deserves the best we can give it of ourselves. Even if that means we're giving it to him or her separately."

"Ace-" Logan started to respond but was cut off by the door opening and the doctor coming in to the room.

"Well hello Miss Gilmore," the woman said as she closed the door at her back and settled on to the rolling stool that seemed quintessential in every doctor's office. "I'm Dr. Britemore. I see here you're coming to us with a personal referral from Dr. Gellar. I'm assuming this must be the dad?"

"Yes," Rory and Logan responded together, and Logan reached out his hand to the woman. "Logan Huntzberger."

She gave his hand a good shake and turned to Rory to do the same. As their hands clasped, Rory spoke. "Thank you for getting us in, I know you've got a busy schedule, so we really do appreciate it. And please, call me Rory."

"It's was no problem at all Rory. Dr. Gellar suggested that you would be more comfortable visiting my offices in Bridgeport?" She asked after glancing at the chart again.

Rory glanced at Logan and bit her lip. "I'm not really sure, actually." Rory admitted. "I'm still primarily in Hartford but Logan is relocating to the city. It may end up easier to come back here so Logan would be able to be here too."

"Ace, I can make Bridgeport work for me if you'd rather go there," he gently assured her.

"I know you would," she told him with a slight frown.

"You don't have to decide right now," Dr. Britemore promised them. "In fact when you set your appointments you just need to tell the receptionist which office you'd like to visit. It's perfectly alright if you're in Bridgeport some of the time, and here in New York other times."

"Okay, that's good." Rory replied with a relieved smile curling her lips.

"However, when we get a little closer to your due date we will need to decide on and designate the hospital you want to use for your delivery - whether it will be in Hartford or New York. I have privileges at a number of hospitals here in the city and in Connecticut, so when the time comes, we can go over the list and see what will work best for you." She explained to them and smiled when they both nodded their understanding.

"Now, you've got an ultrasound scheduled for tomorrow morning downstairs. You've got all the instructions for how to proceed with that I assume?" She asked.

Rory nodded. "Yes, I got them in the email confirmation. They seem pretty straight forward."

"They are," Dr. Britemore agreed. "But if you have any questions, just give the office a call and the receptionists will be able to answer them, or they'll get the answers for you."

"Okay," Rory agreed and glanced at Logan, who nodded at her reassuringly.

"Good. Now today…" the doctor started and launched into an explanation of what she wanted to accomplish with them during the visit.

Rory shifted in the chair behind her grandfather's desk, trying to find a more comfortable position even while her fingers continued to beat out a steady rhythm against her keyboard. Though she could work anywhere with her laptop, and did, she still found that the flow of her words came most easily in Richard Gilmore's old study. The room and the ease with which she was able to write there, was just one of the reasons she was reluctant to move out of the house. She really didn't have anywhere else to go, short of moving back in with her mother, or moving in with Logan.

She had absolutely no interest in moving back into her mother's house and thus being constantly faced with Lorelai's dissatisfaction with her choices. Her mother had her subtle moments, times when Rory couldn't be one hundred percent sure whether what she was saying or implying was antagonistic, but Lorelai was still Lorelai, and sooner or later she eventually erupted with a volley of criticisms or complaints about what Rory was doing, or how she was doing it.

Especially where Logan's involvement in her life was concerned.

Despite how intently Lorelai had pushed for Rory to inform Logan about the baby, and how insistent she'd been about the fact that Rory needed to find out what Logan's intentions were as related to the baby, her mother was firmly of the opinion that Logan didn't need to be a part of Rory's life - just the baby's. Rory did not agree. And the line had been drawn.

There was a definite stalemate between the two Gilmore Girls, neither willing to adjust their stance. For a whole host of reasons Rory believed that Logan, and she and Logan, deserved another chance to be happy. Rory wanted to be with Logan, if they could make things work. She loved him. She had loved him since she was nineteen years old, neither time, nor distance, nor messed up circumstance and truly changed that. Logan wanted her, something she was still sort of bewildered by, and he wanted them - he, she and their baby - to be a family unit.

Logan really wanted her to move with him to New York. He was careful about not pushing her on the issue, but he had casually mentioned, again, the suggestion that she look at places with him when he was back in town the following week. He'd stayed in a hotel when he'd been in New York earlier in the month, and Rory had stayed with him for the four days he'd been in the city. But he'd told her a number of times that he was going to want to find something that worked for a family soon, so that when he was finally back in New York on a permanent basis, the place would be ready to move in to. The implication that he hoped a family would be living there very plainly obvious.

Where Logan was confident and sure that they would make things work, Rory was still plagued with 'what ifs' and by memories of her own parents enduring desire to be together as a family, and their constant failure at making it work. There was also the niggling worry in the back of her mind that if she moved in with Logan, she would be effectively signing herself up for a lifetime of society life. In all honesty, she didn't mind the occasional event or familial obligation within society, but she already knew she didn't want to live the lifestyle all the time. She wasn't sure there was a way to find a happy medium within the framework of a Huntzberger life.

And so she was stalling. Putting off any decision that would lock her in. Through their child, she was forever tied to Logan. Because of their child, she would already find herself more in demand within society - especially as he or she got older. If she and Logan were together though, would the demands on them be more or less than if they weren't? Would demands on them decrease with time if they were together? Would the demands on her increase as time passed and Logan's role within HPG changed, because eventually it would change?

She knew how easy it could be to lose one's self within that affluent lifestyle and she didn't want to find herself in ten years having become one of those prototypical 'Society Mom's'. She never wanted to become the type of parent who spent more time and effort on their charities, boards, and organizations than they spent focused on raising their child. She knew it could happen. Even Paris and Doyle left the raising of their children more to the parade of nannies in their lives, than they themselves gave to the job, and neither of them had as high a status within the society set as the Huntzberger's did. How could she believe that she'd be any better?

The thoughts and worries continued to swirl while she wrote. The part of the story she was working on didn't require her absolute attention, she knew it all by heart after all. It was as she finished segments and chapters, and had to go back to edit, that she needed to focus on the craft. On shifting tense, on changing names, and on altering events just enough that, though it was still based on reality, it became fiction. She'd do her part and then she'd send it off to Jess and his Truncheon cohorts for further editing and revisions.

Her concentration, such as it was, was broken by the insistent ringing of her cell phone. She quickly tapped out a few more words to finish her thought and snatched up the phone.

"Hello?" She said and she reread the last sentence. She nodded to herself that it looked alright, then shifted her focus to the phone. "Hello?" She repeated.

"I interrupted you writing." Jess guessed, accurately, after her greeting.

Rory laughed. "You did," she agreed, "but I'll pick it up again later. I'm about ready for something to eat anyways."

"Okay then," he said and without even seeing him, Rory knew he was rolling his eyes at her. "I wanted to let you know that we're about done with the chapters you sent last week. I'll send the edits and things back to you tomorrow some time. Andrea said she'd be done with them today and I want the chance to go over her notes before I send them to you."

"That works for me. I really do appreciate all the time and effort you guys are putting into this." Rory told him.

"We'd do the same thing for any writer we'd decided to work with." Jess answered nonchalantly.

"Yes," Rory agreed, "but you wouldn't be doing it without payment."

"We'll get paid." Jess replied confidently.

"Only if it sells." Rory muttered worriedly.

"It's going to sell," he assured her. "Even if you're boneheaded enough not to shop it to the big publishing houses and insist on printing with us, it's going to sell. We wouldn't be working with you otherwise."

"We're cousins now, decades old friends, and I'm your ex-girlfriend. Are you really going to try and convince me that you wouldn't be helping me, even if you thought the story and my writing was a flaming pile of crap?" She asked incredulously.

"Hey," Jess defended himself, sort of. "I may not be the asshole I was when we were sixteen, but I haven't changed that much. If your book was crap, I'd tell you your book was crap."

"Oh, well, thank you." Rory drawled sarcastically. "I almost think there was a compliment in that."

"Sometimes, you've got to take what you can get." He snarked back and they both laughed. After a minute they calmed down and he continued. "Have you given any more thought to what we talked about the other day?"

"You mean shopping it around?" Rory clarified.

"Yeah."

"I don't know Jess. I mean, I know you. I trust you. How do I know that if I shop it around, they're not going to just want to rip it apart and make it into something else entirely?" She asked him but he sensed that she was seriously considering the idea.

He shook his head as he spoke, despite the fact there were several states separating them. "You don't. The thing is Ror, if they want to change the thing so much that it hardly resembles the story you're trying to tell, you pack it up and take it somewhere else." He told her plainly. "And if none of the big houses are willing to work with you and publish the story you want to tell, then we'll do it. You know we'd be happy to do it."

"I guess I'll think about it." Rory finally said on a sigh.

"Since we're talking big decisions," he said, changing the topic, "have you made one about New York yet?"

"Jess," she began and he heard the answer in the tone of her voice.

"Rory, if you're gonna give the guy a chance, and if you want to give the two of you a real chance, don't you think you should be in New York?" He asked.

"Of course I should be in New York." Rory told him, voice rife with frustration. "It's not moving to New York that I'm unsure of Jess. Though how the hell I'm supposed to afford that I have no idea. But moving in with him? Is that something I should really be doing at this point?"

"Do you love him?" Jess demanded.

"What? Of course I do." Rory replied.

"Then why are you making such a big deal about this?" He asked.

Rory huffed and frowned. "Because it is a big deal Jess. What if I did move in with him, and I have the baby, and a year or two down the road we realize that it's just not working? Maybe we realize that what we are in love with is the memory of what we had a decade ago but not the people that we are today. Maybe we realize that we just don't like being with each other 365 days a year. Maybe we're just unhappy together. Then what do we do? Break up our family. I find somewhere else to live. Now instead of parents who get along with each other, our kid is stuck with two people who can't stand one another. I don't want to do that."

"Then don't Rory." Jess said harshly. "Being happy is a choice. Being miserable with your partner and making each other's lives miserable too, is a choice. No one walks into a committed relationship with absolute certainty that five years down the line, or ten, or fifty, that you'll still love the person you're with. Love is work Rory. You're the one who taught me that. It's not something you turn on one day and is static for the rest of time. It takes work and effort, and if you're not willing to put in the energy, then you're right not to move in with him. But if that's the case, I'd also have to wonder why you're even bothering to try?"

They sat in silence for a few long minutes after his words exploded across the phone line. She could hear his breathing in her ear and she marveled at the fact that he was so passionately arguing in Logan's favour. But she also considered his words very carefully. She knew that his own turbulent childhood probably had a lot to do with his position on the matter, and she realized that here was another person who had been greatly affected, in yet other ways, by his parents' choices.

"So, you think I should move in with him?" She asked tentatively a few minutes later.

He sighed, and Rory imagined he was pinching the bridge of his nose, similar to the way she'd seen Luke do when frustrated with her mother. "I think that if you love him the way you say you do, and if you want to give him and the two of you a real chance, the way you say you do, that it just makes sense to move in with him."

"But what if-" she began and he cut her off.

"You've been dating him in secret for five years Rory. You loved him enough to keep seeing him behind everyone's back, lying to do it, and staying with him even when it seemed as though he was cheating on someone else to be with you. And that's not to mention the guys you were cheating on to be with him. Now with just two words from you he's ended his fake engagement, and he's moving himself and his entire business halfway around the world. For you." He continued bluntly. "You know I'm not his number one fan, Ror, but he's trying; which is a hell of a lot more than a lot of guys in the situation might have done. I think you should at least be willing to meet him halfway."

"I don't want to make a mistake that is going to hurt my kid." She finally said softly.

"Sometimes not doing something is as much a mistake as doing it is." He told her. "Instead of thinking of all the ways being together could crash and burn, why don't you spend some time thinking about how amazing it could be. Those 'what if's' are just as possible, Rory. They really are."

* * *

This was a massive chapter.

I really hope you like it.

Maybe you'll tell me what you think of it?

And again, Happy Thanksgiving to my fans/followers/readers in the USA!

... sorry to disappoint you guys - the next chapter won't be going up until Monday probably. I'm just going to be swamped this weekend to get another up any sooner because my youngest daughter is performing The Nutcracker with a touring ballet company. Have a great weekend, everyone!


	10. Letting Go, Moving On, Moving Forward

Oh boy, I'm so much later getting this up than I'd intended - so I'll start with a quick apology that I didn't have this newest chapter posted on Monday as I'd planned! I am very sorry! My daughter had an amazing run doing The Nutcracker this past weekend but 4 days and nearly 40 hours at the theatre for both of us took it's toll. Typical of the young, she bounced back quickly; it's taken me far longer.

Thank you for all your reviews and comments - on both the last chapter and from new readers just discovering the story and reading and reviewing the earlier chapters!

Moving on (LOL), here is the next chapter.

I'd like to warn you of a couple things before you get started reading this update: first, there's a bit of strong language in this chapter. I don't frequently resort to using this type of language but in some situations and circumstances, I think it's apropos. Second, there is something of a rough turn in character in this chapter which could be considered widely out-of-character (OOC) for _Gilmore Girls_. For myself, and for this story especially, I don't think it's too OOC, but more along the lines of suppressed opinions and emotions building pressure before finally exploding. You'll recognize what I'm talking about as soon as you see it, and I guess you'll have to let me know if you think I've gone way off the mark, or if I managed it right.

In the meantime, ENJOY.

And remember: _I do not own _Gilmore Girls_ or the characters, settings or established storyline. I have simply borrowed them for the purposes of entertainment, with no intended offence or infringement on the rights of the original creators._

* * *

**Chapter 10: Letting Go, Moving On, Moving Forward**

"Hey there Ace," he greeted and his smooth voice seeped right into her, warming her from the inside out. "Working hard or hardly working?"

"A bit of both today, I suppose." She admitted and glanced at the time in the corner of her laptop screen. "I'm working on another round of edits and it's frustrating having to change bits and pieces of the story. I'm riding a fine line right now of changing enough to make it fictional but keeping enough so that the heart of the story isn't altered. So, I'm stalling."

Logan laughed lightly and she joined him. "Just don't forget to eat something. Remember the doctor said that you'll be less likely to have dizzy spells if you're eating small meals more frequently."

"She also said to drink more water." She sarcastically reminded him and spared an annoyed glance at the _Contigo_ bottle that sat to the right side of her computer.

"I wasn't going to mention that right now." He told her and she shook her head at his smug tone.

"You won't think it's all so funny when I make you run out in the middle of the night because I had a dream and suddenly I absolutely have to have pickles and peanut butter, but by the time you get back from the store, my cravings have already changed and I'm happily eating a pint of Chunky Monkey." Rory's tone was completely serious as she spoke, but he knew her well enough to know the humour it was hiding.

He laughed. "I can't wait."

And that was the absolute truth. He couldn't wait. He was looking forward to the nights of interrupted sleep, the hormonal whims, and her crazed rambling. He was excited for the sounds of a baby crying in the middle of dinner, for drool (or worse) on his tie, and even for diaper changes. He knew that it was going to be hard - being a parent, especially a good parent, was hard work, but it was also going to be an adventure. And if there was one thing that he was always up for, it was an adventure.

"Somehow that doesn't surprise me." Rory finally replied then changed the subject. "Shouldn't you be in bed by now? It's got to be nearly two in the morning there."

"It is. And I should be." Logan agreed and, as if talking about bed had been all the signal his brain had needed, he yawned loudly. "But I just got home, and I wanted to talk to you before I went to sleep."

Her eyebrows rose slightly with interest. "Oh?"

"Yes, oh," he said. "I'm going to be able to get out of here a bit sooner than I thought this weekend and I was wondering if you wanted to meet me in New York on Saturday afternoon. Well, Saturday evening really. We can have the whole day Sunday to relax and do whatever instead of my flight not getting in until Sunday night."

"How'd you manage to swing things so you're able to get here a whole 24 hours earlier than planned?" She teased.

"By working until one or two in the morning every night." He answered plainly and she sighed. She knew he'd been working long hours to get everything wrapped up and ready for the final move to New York. And when he wasn't at the office late, he was up till all hours packing at his townhouse. He would have movers pack up everything else, but his personal items he wanted to take care of himself.

She frowned; her teasing mood dampened. "You should get to sleep."

"Does that mean you're not going to meet me on Saturday?" He asked sleepily.

"No," she answered, her frown deepening. "I'll meet you on Saturday. Just text me your flight details. A lazy Sunday sounds good."

"Good."

"You remember that we've got our next session with Dr. Townsend on Monday, right?" She asked him.

He murmured his agreement through a yawn. "It's in my calendar in indelible ink."

"Good," she mimicked his previous response.

"You remember that we've got dinner reservations Tuesday for Valentine's Day? Fancy-ish place, so dress up." He reminded her.

She groaned. "I'm getting fat Logan, nothing fancy fits."

"So, we'll go shopping on Sunday," he suggested easily.

"But lazy Sunday!" She mockingly gasped.

"Or Monday, before or after we see Townsend." He amended, despite her only half serious complaint. "We'll find something that will make me drool on the table all night."

"I think we'll have more than enough table drool in the coming years, you can keep it in your mouth, thank you very much." She ordered.

He laughed out loud. "Yes, ma'am. I'll remember that the next time I see you drooling at dinner."

"Oh, sure, turn that around on me." But she too was laughing.

"Turnabout is fair play, Ace. Did no one teach you that?" He teased but then his voice sobered, though it was still thick with sleep. "I'm going to be in town all week this time. I don't need to leave until next Saturday, and hopefully after one last two-week stretch, I'll be done with the back and forth."

"Really?" Rory asked with wonder. When he'd told her that it was going to take him about two months to get his entire department transitioned from London to a new office in New York, she'd thought he was being optimistic. Yet here they were and if things remained on schedule, he'd be settling into his new brownstone just a little past that two-month deadline.

"You sound so surprised." Logan replied with a smile in his voice. "I told you I wanted to be there for everything, so I made sure to work my ass off so I could get back to you as soon as possible. I mean, I'll still have to visit the London offices a few times a year and they'll still be part of my team, but I won't have to do this 'week here, two weeks there' thing anymore."

"I'm glad." She murmured and lifted the bottle of water to sip. "I guess it's a good thing you settled on the brownstone when you were here for that couple days at the end of January."

"And that they were happy to close quickly, but they would have been crazy not to accept my offer. The place was sitting empty since the owners had relocated before Thanksgiving but hadn't decided to sell until just after the New Year. And you've got to admit, Ace, the place is perfect for us." He said and she immediately sighed at his words.

"Logan," she warned.

"It is perfect for us, Ace, it's just as perfect for just me. Until you're ready." He appeased instantly. "I'm not going anywhere Rory. But I'm not going to hide the fact that I want you with me either. I'm not going to pretend that I don't love you, or that I don't want you to move to New York and live with me. We spent enough years pretending that less was enough. It's not enough anymore."

"Logan, I," Rory stuttered over her words, searching for the right way to say what she felt. "I love you too. I'm just not ready yet."

"Okay." He said softly. "Okay."

"Just give me a little more time, please." She begged. "I just need a bit more time."

He sighed and she wondered if she'd managed, yet again, to hurt him. "I was wondering if you wanted to stay in the city through the week with me?" He asked when he finally spoke again.

"Like after Valentine's?" Rory clarified.

"Yeah." He replied. "Obviously I'm going to be working a lot of the time, but I will need to do some shopping for the new house. I know you're not ready to move in but I thought maybe you'd want to help me pick out some of the stuff."

"Sure," she agreed, partly because she knew she may hurt him again with her continued uncertainty about moving in with him, and partly because she actually did want to pick things out for the new place - especially since she wasn't going to be spending any of her own money on the shopping spree.

"Alright, come Saturday packed for the whole week," he said after another big yawn.

"Good night Logan," she told him, smiling at the thought of him tucked into his bed half-way around the world.

"Night Ace." He replied and Rory was sure he was asleep before the line was fully disconnected.

Rory leaned against the window, looking out at the changing landscape. City, towns, river, forest and field. She knew the further she got from Hartford, and the closer the train got to New York, she'd see more water for a bit and less open land. She really loved the way it all looked - snow draped and weighted down yet lurking under the white was life, just waiting to burst forth. Her mother's voice droned in her ear, sharing some story about Kirk and Lulu, and an argument that had erupted during the most recent town meeting.

"Are you even listening to me?" Lorelai snapped and Rory grimaced because she hadn't been, not really, though after having been in town as much as she had been last year, she could hazard a guess.

"Semi-controlled chaos ensued. Lulu won the argument. Kirk is sulking and wandering around town with his pig." Rory suggested. "Luke is still shaking his head at all the unnecessary drama and you think it's all hilarious."

"Hmmm," her mother hummed. "You're right. Yet somehow I doubt you were actually paying attention."

"I guess I was half paying attention," Rory answered.

"So, what are you doing tonight?" Lorelai asked her. Rory frowned wondering whether she'd mentioned her changed plans to her or not. She was sure she had. "Doing something wild, like all the other pregnant ladies are doing on Saturday nights?"

"I am going into the city." Rory said wryly. "Logan's flying in tonight. I'm pretty sure our plans are of the tamer 'take-out and sleep' variety though. Possibly a movie if we can find anything good on the TV at the hotel, or on Netflix."

"Oh, Logan's coming to town." Lorelai replied and Rory rolled her eyes at the immediate change of tone in her mother's voice - gone was the playful teasing.

"Yep. He managed to wrap things up a day early so he's coming in a day earlier than expected. We've got big plans to do absolutely nothing all day long tomorrow as a result." Rory told her, keeping her tone upbeat, and really trying to keep her annoyance with her mother out of her voice. "Though there was mention of the possibility of shopping for a pretty dress for Valentine's Day. Apparently, we have fancy reservations."

Rory practically heard her mother's scoff. "Well, fancy doesn't surprise me." Lorelai said succinctly.

"He won't tell me where we're going," Rory continued lightly. "But it's been a while since I've been out for a fancy dinner with anyone but Dad, so I'm looking forward to it. Except for the needing something to wear part. I've got nothing left that fits and is fancy."

"Hence the mention of shopping." Her mother concluded.

"Exactly."

"Well, I'm sure you'll enjoy yourself." Lorelai said. "When will you be back to Hartford? Wednesday? Thursday?"

Rory frowned. She really was sure that she'd given her mother her schedule, if not all the details of what her days contained. "Logan heads back to London next weekend. He flies out Saturday night. Paris and I are going to go out for dinner, and I'll stay at her place for the night. I'm not sure whether she wants to do anything else, but I will be headed back at some point next Sunday."

"You're staying all week?" Lorelai asked and Rory narrowed her eyes at the tone. "What are you going to do all week while he's working? Shop? Take brunch with some of his precious friends?"

"I might shop, or well, browse some for baby stuff. Sooner or later I am going to have to set up a nursery." Rory told her but she didn't try nearly as hard to keep the annoyance she was feeling from colouring her tone or words. "And I might see if Lucy or Olivia is town and wants to do lunch one day, maybe some of the other girls, or Honor, but mostly I'm just going to be working. I've got a few chapters worth of edits to get through still, and there's always more to write."

Lorelai paused, as she almost always did when Rory made comments about the book. She was still decidedly uncertain of how she felt about Rory writing their story, writing her story. Rory hadn't bothered to share with Lorelai that she was fictionalizing the whole thing, though she figured her mother would probably be more comfortable with the project if she knew. She was still upset that Lorelai had blown up over the idea in the first place. Even her eventual agreement with the fact that Rory was writing the story, before the wedding, hadn't really been enthusiastic or encouraging. Rory sort of felt like Lorelai was appeasing her effort with one hand, while on the other hoping that the book would never actually be published.

"Right." Lorelai finally murmured. "Because you can write anywhere."

"I can. And Logan does want to do some shopping for the brownstone while he's here." Rory admitted. "If everything stays on schedule, he'll be back from London for good during the first week or so of March."

"Oh, wow. That's soon." Lorelai commented. "When's the closing on the brownstone? How soon will he be able to move in?"

Rory rolled her eyes because she had definitely told her mother that already. She and Luke had had a ten-minute conversation about the place, and about the closing, the previous weekend when she'd been in Stars Hollow. "They were able to close almost immediately after his offer was accepted. He could move in any time now, which is why he wants to do some shopping this week. He wants to get new furniture for the master bedroom, and he decided not to keep the couch he had in London, so we'll have to find at least that this week too. As long as it's livable he'll move right into it in March when he gets here."

"Huh." Lorelai replied and Rory almost that was all she was going to say but then she continued. "So, is he just replacing everything then? Is he even shipping anything from his place in London?"

"No, he's shipping nearly everything from London. Not the couch. It's a big sectional that he got when he moved there. It was perfect for the living room there, but it really won't work with any of the spaces in the brownstone. The colour is wrong too." Rory told her. "There are also more bedrooms in the brownstone than there were in his place in London, so we're getting new stuff for the master and putting his old furniture in one of the guest rooms."

"So he wants you to help him pick stuff out?" She questioned. Lorelai had made no secret of her feelings on Rory and Logan giving their relationship another try since Christmas. Rory still didn't understand why her mother seemed so against the idea, when she was one of the people who had convinced her to go to Logan with the news of her pregnancy in the first place. She wasn't sure if Lorelai was still against Logan because of her prejudice toward Hartford Society, or if her negativity toward him was rooted in something else. Rory had tried to broach the subject with her a couple of times but, just like with the book, Lorelai always changed the subject as quickly as she could.

"Well, yeah." Rory answered as if the response should have been obvious.

There was a slight pause. "Are you moving in with him?" Her mom finally asked.

Then it was Rory's turn to hesitate. "I'm not sure yet, but eventually, I don't know. Maybe. Probably."

"Rory," Lorelai said, and she heard the warning in the tone, the ready lecture about to spring forth. "That's a bad idea."

"I'm not so sure of that." Rory replied simply and really, she wasn't. She'd been thinking about her relationship with Logan the past few days, well weeks, and the more she thought about their past, the more convinced she became that they deserved to have a future together.

"Trust me kid, it's a bad idea." Lorelai told her. "The only reason Logan's moving back to the States is because you're pregnant. That's the only reason the two of you are even talking to each other anymore. If you hadn't gone and told him you were pregnant, he'd still be engaged to that French chick. And maybe they never would have gotten married, but he would have married someone else eventually. He's still going to. Someday he will have to marry someone and have little heirs to take over his daddy's company."

Rory opened her mouth to make some kind of response to her mother's words, but Lorelai's attack plowed on. "Coming back to the States means he's going to be sucked back in to all the social responsibilities that come along with being a Huntzberger, Rory. He may have just tossed away one parentally approved fiancé, but the pressure is going to be on to find another one, and soon. If you think his parents won't be throwing them his way as soon as he's settled here, you're deluding yourself. They didn't think you were good enough for their precious family when you were at Yale and nothing's changed. For them, nothing is different now, except now you're having his bastard."

Rory pulled in a sharp breath and held it. Even Lorelai suddenly stopped, having abruptly realized exactly what she'd said. They were silent for a couple minutes. Lorelai was mentally scrambling for a way to back track, but she knew she wasn't wrong - the Huntzberger's weren't going to suddenly approve of Rory, especially now she was having Logan's illegitimate baby. And she was positive that sooner or later, Logan would bend to his family's whims and marry some socially acceptable trophy wife, leaving Rory in the same position she would have been in if she'd never gone to London and told him about the pregnancy in the first place. None of them would accept Rory's baby as a true Huntzberger, Lorelai was sure of that.

"Look," Lorelai began and strived to keep her words as gentle as possible. "I know that Logan is saying and doing all the right things right now. I get that he's doing everything possible to put himself into your good graces again. But don't let him sucker you in to thinking that there's some kind of happy ever after waiting for the two of you. There isn't one. And the sooner you realize that, the less of a fool he's going to be able to make you."

Rory clenched her teeth and held back the angry retort that wanted to jump from her tongue. After a brief moment, she managed to collect herself enough so that she could speak. "I've got to go mom. I can probably get some more work done before the train gets to New York."

"Rory—" she started.

"No." Rory responded shortly. "I think you've said enough on the subject." And with that she hung up the phone. She debated for a few minutes then scrolled until she found the right contact and held her finger over their name. She raised the device to her ear and listened to it ring. Just when she thought it was going to roll over to voicemail, a surprisingly breathless voice answered.

"Hello?"

"Am I even more unsuitable in your parents' eyes now that I'm pregnant?" Rory asked immediately, not even bothering with a greeting.

"Rory?" Honor asked. She glanced at her phone screen briefly to confirm the identity of her caller and then refocused. "What are you talking about?"

"In your parents' opinion, am I even more unsuitable to be with Logan now that I'm pregnant?" Rory repeated.

Honor considered the question seriously but responded quickly. "No. If anything being pregnant with Logan's baby makes you far more acceptable in their eyes. Why?"

"My mom," was all Rory said in response.

"I know you love your mom Rory," Honor told her gently. "But I'm sorry. I think it's time for you to realize that when it comes to Logan, you are just going to have to ignore her."

"I do. I know," Rory replied closing her eyes and leaning her head back against the seat. "I've gotten relatively good at not taking most of what she has to say about him seriously. I know that she doesn't really like him and that she doesn't like that we're giving our relationship another chance."

"That's good, then," Honor commented.

"But she said something today about how having his baby wouldn't make me any more appropriate in your parents' eyes. And she ranted about how now that he'll be in New York your parents would start throwing women at him, trying to hook him up with a trophy wife, since he ended his engagement with the last one they approved of." Rory babbled. "Of course this was after she implied that by staying through this week in New York with Logan, I was basically casting myself into the typical role of an air-headed trophy wife who has nothing better to do with my time than shop and have lunch with other air-headed trophy wives."

"Rory, stop, breathe." Honor commanded her, suddenly very serious. "First of all, I'm not sure ignoring what your mother has to say about Logan is enough. You may just need to stop discussing him altogether when you talk to her. My parents may be famously manipulative, but they don't fuck with our heads the way Lorelai is doing to you. Because that is what she's doing Rory. She's trying to make you doubt him, and yourself, and she's not even trying to be sneaky about it."

"I know. I do. But to be honest, I'm already worried about how your parents are going to react to me being back in the picture." Rory finally admitted.

Honor sighed. "Well, there's history there. Being slightly worried is understandable. But Ror, my parents don't actually have a say in who Logan marries. They introduced him to Odette. Mom and Margot have been friends for years, and Dad generally gets along with Jacques. They may have made comments about her or their relationship, but beyond that they didn't have anything to do with them. They were happy about it and they liked her but that was really it."

"I know, Logan told me. I know the whole thing was masterminded by Odette's father and that the arrangement between Logan and Odette grew out of their attending parties and stuff together." Rory explained. "I just know that neither of your parents ever liked me. And I'm sure they both rejoiced when I turned down Logan's proposal all those years ago."

"Oh, Rory, that was ages ago." She admonished. "To be honest, at this point your name is at the top of the list of who they want Logan to marry."

"Because I'm pregnant." Rory surmised.

"When it comes to my parents, you have to take the wins where you can get them." Honor said wryly. "Sort of like knowing how and when to pick your battles."

"Maybe. But wanting him to marry me because I'm pregnant with his kid and they're worried about their image, isn't the same as them approving of the match." Rory pointed out.

Honor frowned. "Logan doesn't need their approval Rory. He never did. Besides which, he's well past the age where mom and dad get any say in his personal life. But trust me when I say, unless you intend to refuse to let your child be known as a Huntzberger or to carry the Huntzberger name, there is pretty much nothing you could do to make them denounce or dismiss you at this point."

"Do you think it would possible to just avoid them for the rest of time?" Rory asked wistfully, though she knew the answer.

"You're carrying the golden grandchild." Honor answered bluntly. "I'd say that's a big fat no."

Rory laughed lightly and then sighed. "One can always hope, right?"

"They aren't nearly as bad as they once were Rory." Honor told her after a brief pause. "When Logan went out to California, I think mom and dad finally realized that he was his own person. They could contrive to get him to do what they wished all they wanted, but if it wasn't something he was willing to do it would never happen. Dad spent two years convincing Logan to come back. And even then, Logan refused to come back to the east coast. He told them that if he was coming back to HPG and to the Huntzberger family fold, he was doing it on his own terms."

"Logan told me about his coming back when we first reconnected. I suppose I've forgotten some of those details through the years." Rory admitted.

"Yeah, well," Honor continued. "When you were at Yale, you made him a better person than he was before he met you. But when you said no, you made him into a stronger man than I think he would have become otherwise. Or at least he became that man sooner."

"I really can't take credit for what Logan has made of himself through the years. Not even the years when he was with me." Rory said, a somewhat wistful note entering her voice. "He changed because he wanted to."

"I'm glad the two of you found each other again. No other woman he's ever been with has understood him quite so well." Honor told her seriously. "I know you're still hesitant about jumping into a life with him full throttle, just know, he's never cared for anyone else even a fraction as much as he loves you."

"He's the only man I've ever really loved, Honor." Rory shared. "I mean, I thought I'd loved men before your brother, but they just don't even compare. They didn't almost right from the start."

Five days later Rory sat on the couch in the suite she was sharing with Logan. It was late afternoon and she'd just returned from lunch and a bit of shopping with Olivia. She'd decided to take advantage of her friend's creative talents and had dragged her through a few baby shops, furniture and home decor stores. The result, after a couple hours of browsing, was that Rory had several pages of nursery theme ideas and a promise from her friend to help her decorate… once she knew where she was going to be putting the nursery.

She'd been thinking about that a lot the past few days. Obsessing over it, to be more precise. Logan hadn't said anything more about her moving in with him but she knew it was on his mind. During their session with Dr. Townsend on Monday they'd talked a lot about the kind of parents they wanted to be. It had been eye-opening to hear all the things Logan thought about, all the things he dreamed of and hoped to do with their child. Listening to him talk, it had become increasing obvious to her that when he said he wanted to be involved in everything, he really meant it. He didn't just say he wanted to be a better father, or more involved father than Mitchum had been with him. He'd thought of and considered a multitude of ways to be involved in their child's life, how to include their child in his life without inflicting the same pressures onto their child that he'd felt. He'd considered ways to give their child as normal an upbringing as possible.

He'd thought of things even she hadn't considered yet.

All in all, listening to him had reminded her of all the reasons she'd fallen in love with him. At Yale. When they re-met in Hamburg. Hearing his hopes for their future, at least in so far as it focused on their child, reminded her of the times that she had thought of and dreamed of their future too. Their intimate Valentine's evening reminded her of all the Valentine's Days they'd spent together in the past, all the way back to the infamous weekend at the Vineyard while at Yale.

"_It's weird, you know?" She said while setting aside the bruschetta canapés she'd finished putting together. _

_Lorelai was frowning at the potatoes but spared a fleeting glance of amusement in Rory's direction before adding more salt to the dish. "What's weird?" _

"_I don't know, it just hit me." Rory told her, coming back to stand beside her mother. Lorelai glanced in her direction. "These could be the ones." _

"_The ones?" She asked, the smile on her facing beginning to look a little forced. _

"The_ ones, you know?" And though her clarification didn't truly explain anything further, the meaning of Rory's words was nonetheless crystal clear. _

_Lorelai's expression became even more forced as she responded. "Yeah," she said, bit her lip and repeated with more feeling. "Yeah." _

Rory hadn't realized at the time how uncomfortable Lorelai had become during that short conversation. She herself had been so happy and so optimistic in those moments that she hadn't really paid attention to how Lorelai's expression changed. Not so very long after, she had taken time to look back and had wondered: was it because things were rocky with Luke right then that Lorelai had become disheartened, or had it been because Rory was actually considering Logan as someone to spend the rest of her life with? Over the next year or so following that trip, Lorelai had at times been very opinionated about her and Logan's relationship, and at other times ridiculously tightlipped.

Rory honestly never knew how her mother had really felt about Logan at Yale, though she'd known that Lorelai hadn't ever truly given herself an opportunity to get to know him. She pretended to. She half-attempted it. But she never gave it her all. Then he'd proposed and when Rory had told him she couldn't marry him, and he'd left, Lorelai hadn't obviously cheered but she certainly hadn't been sorry that he was gone from their life.

"_I'm sorry," Lorelai told her. "But I think you made the right decision." _

"_You do?" Rory asked incredulously. _

_Lorelai nodded. "I do. Someday you'll meet someone, and you'll just know it's right. You won't wanna hesitate. You'll just know."_

"_Hmm. I hope so." Rory replied but disbelief was apparent in her tone. She truly did _love_ the idea of being married to Logan. _

"_I really do believe it." Lorelai assured her confidently. _

Rory recalled their conversation that night had gone on inanely, veering quickly away from all mention of Logan. In the days that had followed they hadn't spoken of it at all. She'd launched into the job on the campaign and hit the ground running. Through the months and years that had followed, anytime conversation came anywhere near Logan or there was any mention of the Huntzberger's, Lorelai immediately and dramatically changed the topic. For most of the last decade, as far as Lorelai had been concerned Logan Huntzberger and the Huntzberger family had no longer existed.

"_They didn't think you were good enough for their precious family when you were at Yale and nothing's changed. For them, nothing is different now, except now you're having his bastard. Don't let him sucker you in to thinking that there's some kind of happy ever after waiting for the two of you. There isn't one. And the sooner you realize that, the less of a fool he's going to be able to make you."_

She'd always known that Lorelai didn't want her to be a part of the high society life that she'd left all those years ago. Rory had just never realized how far Lorelai was willing to go to keep her out of it. Her mother had always complained about how interfering Emily had been in her life, yet here they were, and Lorelai was doing the same thing - worse than the same thing - to her.

The thing that hurt Rory the most was the realization that it was never going to change. If she chose to be with Logan, to live with him, to raise their baby with him, maybe even to marry him someday, Lorelai would never accept him. She would always resent him and dislike him, and it was possible that eventually she'd begin to resent Rory. Would that trickle down to their child? Would she be able to put aside her feelings about Logan and their life, and love her grandchild?

Because sometime during this week in New York with Logan she'd realized that being with him again made her happy. Even when so many other things were up in the air, simply being with him, near him, made her feel like everything would be okay. And she knew that eventually she was going to end up living in New York with him. She was going to move into the fabulous brownstone he'd managed to find. She was going to live, and love, and make a life with him.

"_So, you're saying in the past three years you've never thought about marrying me?" Logan asked, honestly curious about her answer. When he'd asked her to marry him, he hadn't thought the question would be such a surprise to her. _

"_No, of course I have." She assured him nervously. _

_He frowned slightly wondering why she was so nervous. "And?" _

"_And it's always a really wonderful thought but it was always hypothetical." She told him. _

And the next day, even as she'd told him that she couldn't marry him, she'd told him._ "I love you. You know how much I love you. I love the idea of being married to you."_

She knew too, eventually, she was going to marry him. Some day. They didn't necessarily make the most sense as a couple all of the time. They didn't always see things eye to eye, and they frequently argued, but they always made up. They always made up and they always, inevitably, ended up together again. It had been like that at Yale and in all the years since, it had been the same. It was going to take them some time to work out their various issues - they had done a number on each other through the years after all - but the more she talked about it, thought about it and fantasized about it, the more sure she was that coming to New York to live with him was the right first step toward their future.

"_I still love Logan. I'm not sure that's enough of a reason for us to be together." _Rory had told Emily nearly two months earlier.

When she'd recalled that statement over the past couple weeks, something Jess had said to her the last they'd spoken of her and Logan's relationship surfaced.

"_Why don't you spend some time thinking about how amazing it could be. Those 'what if's' are just as possible, Rory. They really are." _

His comment on the issue was almost always followed by Emily's original response to Rory's words.

"_If you love him Rory, it's reason enough to try." _

She did love him. So much. This week she'd finally realized that she was holding them both back from what they might have simply because she was afraid of the ways they could fail. But now she believed it was time to have a little bit of faith.

It was time to take another leap.

_He stepped closer to her and spoke in his smooth persuasive way. "People can live a hundred years without living for a minute. You climb up here with me, it's one less minute you haven't lived… You trust me?" _

_She hesitated only a moment then a small smile curled her lips. _

"_You Jump, I Jump, Jack." _

She was smiling to herself, eyes closed and obviously lost in thought when he stepped in to the room and found her lounging on the couch.

"You're here." He said and strolled over to sit down at her feet. In what seemed a completely natural and automatic gesture, he picked up one foot and began rubbing it. "I expected you'd still be out dragging Olivia around the shops."

Her eyes had opened as soon as he sat down. Her smile changed slightly, warmed somehow. "I haven't been back long."

"Well I'm glad." He admitted. "It never seems like we have as much time together as we need. It's already Thursday. I have to head back to London again in less than two days."

"For the last time." She said lightly, cocking her head to the side. "Two more days here, a couple more weeks in London, and then you'll be here for good."

"Except for some business travel."

"Except for business travel. But you'll be living here again. And I'll be here too. Our time might always seem short right now, but we'll have more. We will." Rory promised.

"You'll be here too?" He asked, clearly emphasizing 'here.'

Rory sighed and pulled her foot from his hands. She shifted until she was sitting right next to him. Her knees brushed against the outside of his thigh. "I want to stay in Hartford for a little while longer. I still write so much better there. More smoothly, more easily. I'd like to get as much done on the book as I can before I make the move to New York permanent."

"I can accept that. Now when you say New York, do you mean the city in general or the brownstone?" Logan asked.

"Well," she answered slowly, carefully. "It seems a little bit silly for us to have separate places when one of us would likely end up staying at the other's anyways. Plus I really think that little room with the windows overlooking the kitchen terrace and the garden would make a good library slash study slash office for me."

"The one that looks into the room I suggested for the nursery?" Logan questioned, his eyes narrowed on her in thought.

"Yes." She replied simply and without elaboration.

He stared at her for a long silent minute. "I think I need you to say it."

"I want to move in with you Logan." She said with a smile. "I want to live with you in the gorgeous house you bought. And raise our child with you there." Her smile grew as his shoulders slumped and a relieved smile began to spread across his face. "I love you Logan. It's time I stopped hiding from that fact."

He raised his hands and just as he'd done after she'd told him she was pregnant, he cupped both her cheeks and simply gazed into her eyes.

"Thank you." He finally said and she knew that though the words were simple, there was a wealth of meaning behind them. Especially when he leaned forward to rest his forehead against hers and repeated them against her lips. "Thank you."

* * *

I'm sure you know now what I was talking about in my earlier note.

So what did you think?


	11. The Price of Joy

Wow, okay, I guess Chapter 10 was a hit. LOL. I'm really glad you all liked it and want to say 'thank you' to everyone who took a couple minutes to write a review/comment to let me know what you thought! I really appreciate it.

Now we're on to the next thing.

But I have to admit: the 'not-really-OOC' stuff from last chapter continues into this one. Eeek. I guess it's just as well that most of you didn't find Lorelai's behaviour of the last chapter too out of line. She is definitely continuing to channel some very Emily-esque behaviour. I'll just let you read on and discover what I mean!

As always, _I do not own or hold rights to _Gilmore Girls, _it's characters, settings or established storyline. I have merely borrowed these aspects for entertainment purposes and seek no kind of monetary gain for my efforts. No offence is intended toward the networks, producers or creators of _Gilmore Girls, _or _Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life.

Happy Reading!

* * *

**Chapter 11: The Price of Joy**

She knocked on the brownstone's door and looked up and down the pretty tree lined street. She wondered what the trees would look like in a few more weeks when winter had finally released its grip on New England and spring emerged. She supposed she had to give Logan credit for finding the attractive little neighborhood within the city. It looked as though it would be an appealing place to live, but it definitely wasn't the type of place she would have envisioned for Rory. She was still looking across the street when she heard the door open at her back.

"Lorelai?" Logan said with no small shock. Of all the people he would have expected to find on his doorstep, Rory's mother would likely have been the last.

She turned and looked him in the eye. "Logan," she greeted. "Could I come in?"

"Yeah, of course," he told her and stepped back, pulling the door open wider in welcome.

"Rory's not here, if you're looking for her." He continued after she'd come in and he closed the door against the cold. "She was going to spend the week in Hartford writing but she's planning on coming back for the weekend."

"I know. I talked to her." Lorelai responded evenly.

"Okay then." Logan said, even more confused by her appearance. "Can I take your coat? I've got some semi-fresh coffee in the kitchen."

Lorelai took off her overcoat and handed it to him. She watched as he hung it on a coat tree nearby. She looked around the expansive space and noted that though there were indeed a couple couches and a coffee table in the room, it was still essentially empty.

"Come on back," Logan suggested after a moment and led her toward the back of the house. "There are a couple stools at the island in here or we did manage to find a nice table and chairs for the little breakfast room at the back."

He went straight to the coffee pot on the counter and grabbing a big mug from the display stand beside it, poured Lorelai a cup of her favoured beverage. He slid it across the island to her and came around to retake the seat he'd abandoned at her knock. He closed his laptop lid and slid it slightly away. Picking up his own coffee and taking a sip, he finally focused again on the woman before him.

"Did Rory know you were coming into the city today?" He asked, but it was mostly just to be polite. He'd spoken to Rory a couple hours earlier in the day and she hadn't made any mention of it, even though she had vaguely mentioned talking to Lorelai about something.

"I hadn't mentioned it to her," Lorelai told him. "The decision to come today was somewhat spontaneous."

"I see." Logan murmured but had nothing further to say.

They sat in an increasingly tense silence until finally Lorelai set her mug down with a clunk against the stone countertop. "Look, I'm not really sure what you said, or did, or offered her, to convince her to move here with you, but I think that both of you are making a big mistake. I _know_ she's making a mistake. She's not an Upper West Side kind of girl, Logan. She visits Central Park; she doesn't live a block away. Brooklyn, Queens, even the Bronx for God's sake, those are the kind of places that scream 'Rory.' The 'burbs or smaller towns, they yell even louder. Manhattan is where she's supposed to work, it's where she goes for a girls' weekend in the city. It is not where she lives."

"Lorelai, I didn't do anything to coerce Rory into moving here. I told her I'd like her to. I asked her if she would. She made the final decision all on her own." Logan said in defense of himself, and of Rory.

"Right." She replied disbelievingly. "I'm sure she just decided the whole Stepford Wife life seemed like just the thing for her. Just like 'Vegas' was all her decision too? Or years of sneaking around behind my back and lying to me about what she was doing? I'm absolutely positive there was nothing you did to suggest that course of action."

Logan stared at her, silently debating what he could say. He didn't want to fight with Lorelai. Yet while he knew things were strained between mother and daughter, he was sort of surprised by her attack. But then he recalled a number of things Rory had said over the past few months and realized he probably shouldn't be. Before he could decide whether to respond, or how, she continued.

"Rory doesn't need you coming in and screwing up her life any more than you've already done. She was doing just fine until you came back into the picture." Lorelai asserted and, though Logan took a breath and opened his mouth to argue, she continued. "Now you may be really excited at the idea of having a baby, Logan, but we both know that once it's actually arrived you'll be just like every other man of your type and that kid will be best kept 'out of sight, out of mind.' You're a 35-year-old, single, WASP from the highest echelons of the Hartford elite. Your kind doesn't change. You're firmly tucked under Daddy's thumb and, except for a very brief period when you attempted to strike out on your own, you've danced to his tune all your life."

"Hey," he finally snapped. "You don't get to tell me what I want or how I feel about any damn thing in my life."

"You're right. Your life is of very little interest to me. It's not just your life anymore though, is it? It's Rory's too. You've made sure of that. But she deserves better than some philandering middle-aged playboy who cruises in and out of her life as if the affect he has on it is of little consequence." Lorelai told him self-righteously.

Logan snorted at her apparent delusion. "Oh my God, I haven't been a playboy since I met Rory at Yale. And though I don't owe you any explanation, or the story of my life for the past decade, I will tell you that while I was in California, I dated one woman. For more than a year in fact. And I met her nearly a year after Rory graduated from Yale and I moved there. I know that you'd like to paint me as the villain of this whole situation but I'm not Lorelai."

"Please," Lorelai drawled sarcastically. "As if your whole Vegas agreement wasn't designed specifically so you could sleep with as many people as you wanted. You can spin whatever story you want about your French fiancé for Rory, but we both know that wasn't the whole truth. And I'm sure she wasn't the only European bimbo you've had dangling off your arm for the past five years. Rory might be naive enough to believe it, but I've known guys just like you all my life."

"I don't think you've known any of the guys you claim are just like me nearly as well as you think you do." Logan said in a low tone, dangerously close to losing his temper. "You don't know me. One sincere conversation over pie more than a decade ago, does not mean that you know anything about me. I _do_ think you've created an elaborate picture of what you imagine my character is. I figure you've given me all the worst traits you've ever witnessed in any man you've encountered in your lifetime. I'm sure that as far as you're concerned there isn't even one sterling characteristic to my person. And you're welcome to your opinion Lorelai, but fortunately, yours isn't the opinion I care about."

"And yet Rory does care about my opinion. All her life, it has been my opinions that have shaped her choices and her decision making. Do you really see that changing at this point?" She shot back, indignation and the obstinate belief in the truth of her own words ringing loudly in her voice. "I'm her best friend, Logan. I have been her entire life. You don't think _you_ are going to change that, do you?"

Logan tilted his head and looked at her. "No, Lorelai, I don't think I'll change that fact at all. I think you'll do a bang-up job of it all on your own."

"Now who's imagining things?" Lorelai said with a sneer.

"What do you imagine is going to happen when Rory finds out that you were here today?" He asked her, honestly curious how she figured this whole scene would play out.

"You gonna tattle on me Logan?" She rebutted.

"Will I really need to?" He wondered aloud but continued without waiting for any kind of response. "I mean, you had to have some kind of agenda in mind when you knocked on my door. Spontaneous though the trip may have been, it's at least a two-and-a-half-hour drive. Plenty of time for you come up with whatever you felt you needed to say. Yet you come in here with these ridiculous claims against my character and against Rory's too. You make threats, subtle maybe but definitely threats. And maybe you get the reaction you expect out of me, or maybe you get something entirely different, either way, what's the point? Unless you intend to work the whole thing into some conversation with Rory at some later date, using whatever I may or may not say to illustrate some dastardly assertion about me to make your point."

Logan got up from his chair and moved over to stand by the sink, looking out the window at his back yard. After a minute he turned around and looked at her darkly. "Because that's what you do, right? You lay all kinds of supposed evidence of things on her, twisting them into the truth as you see it. You weigh her down with your opinions and your expectations, and then heap on the guilt about how you didn't have the same opportunities that she's had, or how different things would have been for you if you hadn't done what you did. All in some guise of ultimate friendship, and trust, and loyalty."

"You have no idea what you're talking about." Lorelai said evenly.

"And for years, it worked. Didn't it, Lorelai? She did everything just the way you wanted her to. She made the decisions you wanted her to make. Made all the plans that you wanted. She even echoed all the same thoughts and feelings on things as you did." Logan began to summarize a number of the things that he'd heard from Rory in the past few months. "But somewhere along the way things started to change. Rory started thinking, saying, even doing things that were anathema to everything you'd ever taught her. Someone had to be blamed: your parents, the preppy kids at Chilton or Yale, my friends and I. Right? It couldn't possibly be that she was growing up and discovering things for herself, developing her own thoughts and feelings and opinions on things. Becoming her own person, separate from the mini-me you'd molded her to be."

"That's ridiculous." She claimed.

"Which part, Lorelai?" Logan asked. "The part where you've been essentially manipulating her to do what you want her to do her whole life, or the idea that as she grew her personal opinions of things differed from yours?"

"The whole thing. I have never done anything to make Rory do anything she didn't want to. Unlike my own mother, I've always considered what Rory's own thoughts and feelings were before I offered her any advice." Lorelai claimed. "I've only ever wanted the best for her life, and I've always done my best to support her in whatever she wanted or needed to do."

"Like taking time off from Yale?" He commented and had the satisfaction of seeing her cringe. "Yeah, you were a beacon of light for her during that period of time."

"That was different." Lorelai replied simply.

"Why?" Logan demanded.

"Because she didn't need to take time off. She needed to work harder and prove that your father was wrong about her." She responded.

"Which is exactly what she did," Logan said evenly. "Eventually. But she needed to find her feet again. Find her confidence. She needed to know for herself that my father was wrong before she could prove it to anyone else."

Lorelai scoffed and rolled her eyes. "And I suppose she found that confidence while doing community service and working for the DAR."

"Maybe. More likely it was a combination of those and a number of other things." Logan responded. "Sometimes it takes failing at something in order to reach success, Lorelai. And sometimes you have to take a step back in order to be able to move forward."

"Well you'd know all about that wouldn't you?" She sniped.

"Swing at me however you like Lorelai," he told her. "I did fail spectacularly at my first business venture after Yale. But then I got back on my feet, reoriented, and moved on. It's not an understatement to say that I was successful at what I did in California. And the work I've done since I've been back at HPG has been instrumental in bridging the future of news media with the way things have been done in the past."

"And yet, Rory couldn't find a satisfactory footing within your fiefdom." She commented. "She proved to everyone who paid any attention to her that she had exactly what it took to be a fabulous journalist when she went back to Yale. Those first couple years after graduation it seemed like the sky was the limit. Would it have been roughly about the time you came back in to the picture that things started to turn on her, Logan? Suddenly she couldn't find work to keep her happy, couldn't find anything permanent. I wonder how much that had to do with you? Or with your father."

Logan shook his head. "I'm sure you'd love to blame that on me but Rory had already transitioned to freelancing when we got back together. I have never, not at any point in our relationship, or at any point of our knowing one another, done anything to stand in the way of her career. All I've ever done is encourage her. I've offered a helping hand when I thought it might be helpful. And when I saw that her interests and ambitions were changing directions, I offered my support to the venture unstintingly."

"Still, you agreed with your father that she didn't have what it took to be a journalist." Lorelai began and he immediately cut her off.

"No. I didn't." He said sharply. "And I made that clear to Rory when she accused me of the same thing years ago. She was hesitant at times, even nervous at times about immersing herself in the stories she was covering. But once she had a handle on things she was always more than happy to dive right in and work until she got the story and found whatever angle she was after. My father never gave her a chance during that internship to show what she was really capable of. That was his failing. One he's come to regret since Rory has unashamedly refused every offer that he or HPG has ever given her."

"I'm sorry, what?" Lorelai snapped, sincerely shocked by his last statement.

"One of the things that held Rory back through the years, was that she adamantly refused to work for HPG after graduation. I've even been unable to convince her to take a job at one of our papers in the years since we've been together again. And not because she was holding a grudge against my dad," Logan clarified. "She wouldn't take a job with us because she didn't want to give my father the satisfaction of having her on his staff."

"So, it is your fault that her career is in the dumps." Lorelai concluded.

Logan sighed. "You know what? Believe whatever you want Lorelai." He paused a moment. "Did you have a particular reason for coming today? Or did you just figure on ruining my good mood?"

"Rory cannot move in with you." She boldly stated.

"Cannot?" Logan repeated with a disbelieving laugh. "As if you have any say in the matter."

"I'm her mother, of course I get a say." Lorelai snapped angrily.

"Rory's a 32-year-old woman. She doesn't need your permission to do anything." He barked back.

"You still don't understand our relationship Logan," she said, assured of her every word. "In the end she will always choose to do what's best for her, and she knows that I would never suggest any course of action besides the one that is best for her."

"No, Lorelai, she knows you will always suggest a course of action that is best for you. You will always push the path that will make you happiest and will cause the least amount of disruption to your life." Logan returned assurance with assurance of his own. "She has admitted more than once that she often goes against her own wishes in order to appease yours. Because it's easier than fighting for what she really wants. The thing you seem to be forgetting in this situation is that she's not making decisions based solely on what's best for her. She's taking in to consideration what's best for _our_ child, and what will be best for _our_ family. Her decision making isn't reliant on how or whether her choices will make you happy anymore."

Lorelai crossed her arms in defiance against his words but didn't say anything in response.

"If I had to take a guess," Logan surmised. "I'd say that's probably what your problem is. She's not ignorant of the fact you're unhappy with the situation as it is, but she isn't going to change her mind to appease you this time either. And you're just not used to not getting your way."

Rory settled down on to the couch as she watched Lane bustling around on the other side of the room, tidying a few of the boys things. She was having dinner with her mom and Luke later in the evening but had decided to come to town early and spend a bit of time with Lane. Having decided she was moving in with Logan she'd been focusing entirely on writing, spending long hours ensconced with her laptop in Richard's old study. She'd sent more chapters off for editing and had got one chapter back already, but she'd already told Jess and Andrea that she wouldn't be doing the revisions until after she moved. The rate she was going, she figured she'd be at a good place to hit pause in a few weeks. To that end, she was tentatively planning on making the move mid-April.

"How long till the boys will be home?" Rory asked her old friend.

Lane smiled and finally came to sit down beside her. "Zach is grabbing them after school and they're going to the arcade in Woodbury for a bit. They'll be back around five probably."

"Aw, you must love me." She teased with a sweet smile and fluttering eyelashes.

"Well I wanted a chunk of uninterrupted time with you." Lane explained. "I didn't think you'd give me all the gnarly details if any of my boys were around."

"Gnarly details?" Rory laughed. "Of what?"

Lane's eyes went wide. "Of Logan's confrontation with Lorelai, obviously."

"Logan's confrontation with mom?" Rory asked. "What confrontation? Did he come here?"

"No, he didn't come here. Your mom went to New York one day last week. Tuesday, I think." Lane told her and watched as Rory's eyes first widened and then narrowed. "And you had no idea."

"Logan didn't say anything about it." Rory replied. "I spent all weekend in New York at the house with him and he didn't say a word."

Lane bit her lip. "And Lorelai?"

"She certainly didn't tell me." Rory said, shaking her head. "But she's been particularly vocal against my moving to New York. And against my being with Logan."

"So, what do you think happened?" Lane wondered.

"I can only guess," Rory replied with a roll of the eyes. "She seriously went to New York to confront him?"

"That's what Luke told me when I went to grab dinner from the diner earlier this week. He wondered whether I'd talked to you and if you'd said anything, because your mom was mum on the topic." Lane explained. "She didn't even tell him she was going until she got back from the city and then she refused to say anything beside that she'd seen Logan."

"I don't understand why she would even go there." Rory said.

Lane shifted in her seat and leaned her shoulder against Rory's. The two sat companionably for a few long silent minutes. Finally Lane spoke, "I can't believe that Logan didn't tell you about it. If it was Zach and Mama had tracked him down to confront him, he would tell me chapter and verse about it as soon as he saw me."

"Even if they fought?" Rory asked after a minute of thinking about it.

"Mama and Zach? They hardly ever fight. Mama just talks and talks and talks, and Zach ignores 80 percent of what she says." Lane commented. "But I guess, I don't know. If they actually argued about something? No, he probably wouldn't tell me. Unless it was super important."

"Hhmm." Rory hummed irritated. "I guess I'll have to ask them about it."

"And then you'll give me all the gnarly details?" Lane asked cheekily.

Rory laughed and laid her head on Lane's shoulder. "I promise."

"Excellent." Lane said and patted Rory's knee. "Now let's forget about it and you can tell me about the book, the baby, and the new house."

The two woman shifted around until the ended up facing each other cross-legged, just as they used to do as girls and gossiped about all the seemingly important things in their lives at the time. Now they were discussing husbands (or boyfriends), their children, childcare, work, and what they'd been up to since they'd last had a good chat. It was perhaps, if either woman had paused to think about it, not so very different than when they were in high school.

Dinner that night with her mom and Luke had been relatively peaceful. Lorelai had made a handful of passing remarks about Rory's planned, eventual move to New York but never brought up her recent trip to the city. Luke shared news of April's doings at school. When Rory questioned a few things about her classes or activities, he had eventually tossed up his hands and told her she'd have to contact April herself because he only understood every third thing she talked about. Both the Gilmore ladies had laughed and Rory had commiserated with him, assuring him that she knew a few people like that too.

It wasn't until the meal was finished that she brought up Lorelai's meeting with Logan. Luke was cleaning up, while Rory and Lorelai continued to pick at the pie he'd brought home from the diner. When Rory gauged he was nearly done, she cleared her throat and broached the subject.

"I think it's time you tell me about your trip to New York last week." She said looking directly at her mother.

"My— How do you even know about that?" Lorelai chocked out around a mouthful of pie. When Rory just stared at her without response, Lorelai's eyes narrowed slightly. "I suppose 'his majesty' told you."

"Logan?" Rory wondered, though she knew that's precisely who Lorelai meant and so didn't wait for a response. "No. He never mentioned it, even though I spent all of last weekend with him."

Lorelai snorted and abruptly got up from the table to refill her coffee mug. Her back was to the table, and to Rory and Luke, when she spoke. "Of course. I'm sure he had nothing to say about it."

"He didn't actually." Rory commented lightly and continued. "Lane's the one who clued me in. She asked me what happened."

"Lane?" Lorelai said sharply as she whirled around and glared at Luke. "I suppose you told Lane."

"Was the trip supposed to be a secret Lorelai?" Luke asked. "Because if it was we probably shouldn't have had a conversation about it in the diner, within earshot of at least half a dozen people that would have passed the details about it around town inside of an hour."

Lorelai stared at him, annoyance vibrating through her because he was right and because she had no interest in the conversation.

"Regardless of how I found out that you went to New York, I think I deserve the details about what happened when you saw my boyfriend." Rory said calmly.

"Nothing." Lorelai muttered. "Nothing happened."

Rory spared a glance toward Luke who was frowning at Lorelai in confusion. "Why do I doubt that? Mom, sit down and talk to me. Why did you even go to New York? Did you need something for The Dragonfly or the annex? Or for here?"

"No." Lorelai replied tonelessly, still standing near the coffeepot.

"Then I don't get it." Rory told her. "I talked to you that morning. You knew I was in Hartford, so you didn't go hoping to see me. I even invited you to lunch that day, but you told me you were busy. I don't understand why you went to New York. Did you go specifically to see Logan?"

She watched her mom silently. Eventually Lorelai twisted around and picked up her coffee cup from the counter, then leaned back against it with the mug cradled in both hands. Lorelai appeared to be staring at something only she could see, and Rory wondered briefly if her mother was going to respond to her at all. Luke pulled out the chair he'd previously been using from the table and sat.

"You told me that you thought you might catch Rory in New York and be able to get in on some of her shopping." Luke said blandly. Rory glanced sharply at him in question. "She didn't even tell me she'd gone to New York until she was on her way home. There was some kind of accident on the interstate and she was late for dinner."

"Why did you go see Logan?" Rory said turning back to Lorelai and this time the demand for an answer was clear in her tone.

"I wanted to talk to him." Lorelai finally replied. "Specifically, I wanted to talk to him when you weren't there to run interference or speak for him."

"Logan's pretty good at speaking for himself." Rory snapped. "What did you say to him?"

"It doesn't matter." Lorelai insisted.

Luke shook his head. "I think it does, Lorelai. If you're lying to me about it, hiding the trip from Rory, and this upset that she found out about it all, I think it probably matters a lot."

"You're supposed to be on my side here." She burst out, glaring again at her husband.

"What side?" Luke asked. "Why did you go to New York, Lorelai?"

She turned her attention abruptly to Rory who had been watching her closely. "How can you even think about moving in there with him?"

"Excuse me?" Rory sputtered.

"The _Upper West Side_, Rory? Really?" Lorelai said in a haughty, snide voice. "Did you decide that since you failed so spectacularly at journalism that you'd take on the _Real Housewives of New York_ instead?"

Rory clenched her teeth at the first, instantaneous response that leapt to her lips. She focused on her mother's face and studied that anger she could now see seething just beneath the surface. She wondered at it, at its true source. Surely she wasn't this angry about the move to New York.

When Rory didn't immediately speak, Lorelai continued. "Can you honestly see yourself living in that house? It's got an elevator for God's sake! Who needs an elevator in their home?"

"According to Paris, pretty much anyone who lives in any one of those older brownstones with more than three floors." Rory snapped as the tight grip she held on her temper slipped just a bit. "Seriously, mom, the elevator has you this revved up? Do you think I'm gullible enough to believe that?"

"Well you seem to believe that Logan actually cares for you, wants to be with you, and actually wants to be involved in your kid's life, so yeah, why not this too?" Lorelai responded.

"Lorelai!" Luke snapped at the same time Rory spoke.

"What is wrong with you?" Rory asked aghast.

"Wrong with me?" Lorelai asked in response. "Me? You're the one walking blindly into a life that is going to make you miserable, with a man who will cheat on you again and again until he finally just walks away, because that's what he does. Eventually he will leave you alone with your kid."

"What bothers you more, Mom? That I'm moving to New York, to the Upper West Side, with Logan, and that I'm giving my relationship with him another real chance? Or is it that I'm involved with him at all, and that I want him to be involved in _our_ child's life?" Rory questioned in rapid fire sequence, her own anger at Lorelai beginning to grow.

"It's not supposed to be this way, Rory." Lorelai answered.

Rory shook her head and her brows furrowed in confusion and annoyance. "What way?"

"You're supposed to be here." Lorelai told her. "You were supposed to settle down here and raise your baby in Stars Hollow. Luke and I would help you, and you could keep running the Gazette or work on your book, or do something else. But you are supposed to be here."

"Mom," Rory said quietly biting her lip. "I—"

"You are NOT supposed to be with that hedonistic self-absorbed trust fund ass." Lorelai continued. "I'd rather you raise the baby alone than be with someone like him. You used to know that men like him were bad news. You used to understand they'd do nothing but hurt you."

"Lorelai," Luke tried but she was on a roll and her voice rose over his.

"Guys like Logan are unreliable, untrustworthy, and incapable of any real feeling. If you move there with him, if you stay with him, you're setting yourself up for a lifetime of hurt and disappointment." Lorelai warned unheeded. "He will never be the kind of man you need. Once upon a time, you knew that. You said no to his proposal because you knew that."

"Lorelai, stop." Luke commanded. He rose from the table and swiftly crossed to her, grasping her shoulders firmly. "Stop."

"Why?" Lorelai demanded belligerently.

"Do you know what you sound like?" He asked hotly. "Do you know _who_ you sound like? Your mother. You sound just like Emily Gilmore at her worst more than a decade ago. You even have the sneer in your voice that she'd get when she talked about me, or about Jess, or Dean."

Lorelai sucked in a breath but glared at him. "Take that back."

"I won't." He replied.

"Mom," Rory said softly and drew Luke and Lorelai's attention to her. She still sat at the table but now tears tracked down her cheeks. "I get that you don't trust people from Hartford society ,but you don't know Logan."

"I know him well enough to know he'll be typical to his class." Lorelai snapped.

Rory braced and continued. "You don't know him at all if you think he's like Dad." She had the satisfaction to see Lorelai jolt against the accusation. "I could do all those things you said. I could stay in Stars Hollow, run the Gazette, raise the baby, all of it. But I don't want to. I don't want to do it alone."

"You wouldn't be alone Rory, you'd have me and Luke, and everyone in town." Her mother said, her voice taking on a pleading note.

"I know I'd have everyone's help, but I would be alone. There wouldn't be anyone to share all the joy of raising my child. There'd be no possibility of having another baby. It would just be me." Rory told her.

Lorelai shook off Luke's hold and took a step toward Rory. "There's nothing wrong with that."

"You're right there's nothing wrong that." Rory agreed with a nod, but her smile was sad. "I loved growing up here. I loved having you all to myself. But I missed out on a lot of things because it was just you and me. I love you and I have always been so grateful for everything you've done for me; for all the sacrifices you made to give me the life we had."

"Rory," Lorelai murmured touched by Rory's words, but she her whole body stiffened when Rory continued.

"But I want more for my child, I want better. I don't want your life mom. I want my own." Rory told her.

"With him." Lorelai responded; her voice suddenly empty of emotion.

Rory shrugged, "Yeah. I mean, I want to try."

"You're making a mistake Rory." Lorelai said.

"Maybe," Rory admitted. "But it's my mistake to make. I owe myself the chance to find out. I owe my child that much too. And Logan. If it's not a mistake though Mom, just imagine how amazing it could be."

"You're going to be hurt." Lorelai told her. "If not by Logan, then by his family. I'm not sure I can support this Rory."

"I'm sorry," Rory said after a minute of looking at her mother. Lorelai's frown deepened but Rory could see Luke was nodding and had a small smile on his lips. "But I'm willing to take the chance. For my own sake, and for the baby's, I'm willing to risk the possibility of being hurt if the reward is a family. My own family - with a man who adores me, and kids whom I love as fiercely as you've ever loved me."

"I can't support you being with him. I don't believe he's good for you Rory. I don't believe the Huntzberger's are good for you, or for the baby." Her mother claimed.

Rory smiled sadly. "You're allowed your opinions Mom. Something I've finally learned though is that I don't have to agree with your opinions, and I don't have to follow live my life by them. My life should be my own. My own risk and reward, my own success and failure. My own joy and sorrow. Just as your life has been yours."

"You're choosing Logan over me." Lorelai said with no small surprise.

"No, Mom," Rory told her firmly. "I'm choosing me."

* * *

So... dare I ask what you thought of this one?

*peeking between my fingers at my iPad as review notifications come in*

FYI - the next chapter will be up in another couple days. In the meantime, I'm busily working on the companion Christmas story that will be published during the holidays later this month!

Till nest time, keep reading!


	12. Home Is Where The Heart Lives

Here we are, back again with another new chapter for _**Ever Changing Life.**_I want to say a very sincere **thank you** to absolutely everyone who has commented and reviewed this story - from the first chapter to the last. I know I say that, or something similar, at the beginning of each chapter but I mean it each and every time. Life has had me busy and just a little bit down the past week or so, but every time a new review comes through the system, it makes me smile. So, truly, thank you.

I'm not going to preface this chapter with any special words or warnings. I think the chapter title says all I really need to anyways.

As ever, _I do not own _Gilmore Girls_ or any of the characters, the settings, or the established storyline. My story uses them as a foundation to springboard from, and has been written for entertainment purposes only - both mine and yours. _

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 12: Home Is Where The Heart Lives**

Rory sealed the last box and took a deep breath. For a couple weeks she'd been checking boxes, packing boxes, and correctly labeling all of them. For the first time - ever - she was packing all of her possessions and moving them to her new home. It felt strangely as if it was one of the most grown up, adult things she'd ever done. So much of the past decade had been lived out of a suitcase and she was inordinately excited at the thought of having everything she owned in one place, at the same time.

No more wondering where her underwear was. No more searching for her books. No more fretting because she didn't have a particular outfit she wanted to wear. Granted she wasn't able to wear most of her regular clothes anymore but when she was capable of it again, she'd know precisely where every article of her wardrobe was.

"That's everything then?" Emily asked from the doorway of Rory's room. Rory looked at her grandmother and smiled.

"It is." She told her and with as much grace as possible climbed to her feet. "And a good thing too. The movers will be here in a little while to pick everything up."

"Luke brought everything from Stars Hollow? You're sure he didn't forget anything?" Emily questioned as Rory approached her and together they walked toward the stairs.

"He got everything. Lane and Zach helped him load everything from their place and from Mom and Luke's." Rory assured her. "Lane checked everything on their end and I double checked everything when he unloaded it all here. We've got it all."

Emily nodded as they descended. "I'm glad."

"Me too." Rory said her voice coloured by that same slight note of surprise she'd experienced while packing everything up.

Together they walked to the dining room and Rory smiled at the tea service her grandmother had set out on the table, including a small variety of snacks. Emily had been in Hartford for the past three days with Rory. Partly to assure herself that Rory wasn't overdoing it with her moving endeavours, partly so she could spend some time with her granddaughter before she moved to New York. She was disconcerted to discover that Lorelai was holding a hard line on the issue of Rory moving to New York, and on being with Logan again. But Emily was pleased that Rory was being as mature as possible in the situation and wasn't trying to cut her mother out of her plans or her life because of it.

They sat down and Rory happily took the cup of tea Emily poured for her, then asked. "Have you thought any more about what you're going to do with the house?"

"Of course," Emily said and sipped from her own cup. "I just can't bring myself to sell it though. Which is silly. I've barely spent anytime in Hartford since last summer and now even you won't be staying here. But your grandfather bought this house for us to live in, to raise a family in. We grew old in this house. I'm not sure I _can_ sell it."

"I don't think that's silly grandma, not at all." Rory replied.

Emily smiled at her and changed the subject. "Are you excited to get moved in in New York?"

"I am." Rory told her. "I was just thinking upstairs that I was ridiculously excited at the idea of having all my things in one place again. I haven't really had that since I was at Chilton."

"Well, you've been busy since high school. But I've always felt it strange the way you've had your things scattered all over the place. How on earth could you find anything when you needed it?" Emily admitted, her wonder and curiosity getting the better of her.

Rory laughed. "I cannot even tell you how many times I've wanted a particular outfit and it's been somewhere else. Or wanted to read a specific book, only to discover it's in a box at someone else's house."

"I couldn't imagine." She commented with a shake of her head.

"For the most part it was convenient," Rory explained. "I could visit mom without having to pack. I could show up here and have appropriate clothing for dinner or whatever event we would be going to. When I was going to London all the time, I could fly without having to check any baggage. It worked. Most of the time."

"I for one, am glad that your days of wanderlust are at an end. It will be nice to know that we can chat or visit anytime we wish now." Emily told her sincerely.

"And you'll always be welcome grandma," Rory promised. "We've got two guest rooms fully furnished and ready for visitors."

"I wouldn't dream of imposing." She replied, secretly pleased that her granddaughter would think of it.

Rory shook her head and laughed. "It's not an imposition, it's an invitation. I'm offering the room to you; it's yours anytime you want. Logan and I already talked about it and he agrees with me. If you're coming into the city you definitely have to stay with us."

"Oh, Rory," Emily sighed as emotion chocked her up. "You are such a dear girl."

"It's not that big of a deal. You and grandpa always made your house open to me when I needed it. You let me live here during Yale and for the past six months. Now it's my turn, or rather mine and Logan's turn to show you the same kind of hospitality." Rory responded. She was touched, and a little shocked, when Emily rose from her chair and wrapped Rory in a hug.

After a moment Emily retook her seat and laughed. "Well, I promise to give you some warning when I want to come to the city. The offer really is too good to pass up since it means I'll get to spend even more time with my great-grandchild." She took a moment to compose herself and redirected the conversation once again. "Have you decided how you're going to decorate the nursery?"

"Well," Rory smiled hugely as she latched on to the topic. "My friend Olivia from Yale, she's an artist, and she worked up a few mural designs for us. Logan and I finally picked one of them a couple weeks ago and she started working on it at the beginning of the month. She swears to me it will be finished this week sometime."

"Really? That's exciting. Does it have a theme you can incorporate into the rest of the decor?" Emily asked.

Rory's eyes twinkled. "It's not really thematic but it can definitely mix with everything else we choose to decorate the nursery with. I'm really excited about it and can't wait to see it when it's finished. When I was there last, she was just starting to segment and sketch on the wall."

"So, what is it?" She questioned.

"You know, I think I'll leave it as a surprise for you, grandma." Rory teased. "Maybe you could come into New York one weekend and we could go shopping for some of baby stuff?"

"I would love to Rory," Emily said, voice rich with feeling, emotion blatant in her tone. "Your mother should come with us too."

"I'd like that," Rory agreed, "but I don't think mom will want to. She didn't even want to look at the sketches when Olivia gave them to us to choose from."

Emily reached over and took hold of her hand. "I know that your mother is having a hard time with all of this Rory. She'll come around though, I'm sure." She squeezed her hand and released it. "Despite how well you got on with society when you were at Yale, I don't think she ever really expected you to truly become a part of it."

"I know," Rory replied with a shrug. "And I can't do anything about that. She's allowed her feelings and concerns on it. I'm not going to do anything I don't want to do, but I've never really had the aversion to all things society that she has. I just didn't think she'd try so hard to distance herself from me, and from the baby, because I was choosing some version of this life for myself."

"You know her prejudice against society runs deep Rory. I've never understood it but I've always known it was there." Emily said. "I do think she'll soften her stance, the closer it gets to your due date. She's not going to want to miss out on being involved in the baby's life. You know that."

"I hope you're right, grandma, I really do."

After that they turned the conversation to topics far less important until the sound of the doorbell ringing interrupted them and let them know the movers had arrived. The two ladies supervised the loading of all of Rory's personal belongings, including a few books from Richard's collection, a number of bookshelves, Rory's couch from Yale which had been in the Gilmore's basement for the past decade, and a beautiful old desk for her writing space that Rory had found at a store in Hartford. Not long after everything was loaded and the truck had gone, Rory bid her grandmother goodbye and climbed into the car Logan had arranged to bring her to New York.

Almost four hours later Rory stepped from the car and smiled at Logan, who stood on the stairway leading to the front door. The driver collected two bags from the trunk and delivered them just inside the open doorway. Then with a generous tip and Logan and Rory's thanks, he slipped back into traffic. The couple stood side by side looking up at the house they would live in together. Logan put his arm around Rory's shoulders and her head nestled against his.

"Welcome Home, Ace." He murmured in her ear as they started up the steps.

She took a deep breath and lifted her head to look at him again. "It's nice to be home."

* * *

"Hey," he said from the doorway of her office. She hadn't finished putting everything away, boxes of books still littered the room, but she'd swift gotten her workstation set up and he was happy to see that she was writing.

Her head popped up and eyes focused on him as her concentration was broken. "Hey," she replied and blinked twice before glancing out the windows at the light and then back down at her screen for the time. "I didn't expect you home so early today."

"I decided to cut out a bit early. I didn't have anything else pressing to deal with before the holiday," he explained simply as he picked his way across the room and sat down on her couch near the desk. "Once we wrapped up the team conference call and I cleared my desk, I figured no one could fault me for heading home."

"You know you don't have to do that kind of thing just because I'm here now," Rory said seriously. She tapped a couple buttons to ensure her progress was saved, then closed the lid and focused completely on him. "I mean, once in a while is nice. This is nice. But I don't expect you to be here before dinner every day or entertain me every night. I know your position and work comes with long hours, and tons of responsibility."

"I know you do, and I'm not home early because I think I _have_ to be Ace. That's one thing I've never had to worry about with you. I've always known you understand the demands that HPG puts on my time and attention." Logan assured her, taking on the same serious tone that she'd used. "The truth is, my team is on top of things right now - partly because of the way we wrapped up things for the transition, and partly because they're just really good at their jobs. We do have a few new projects they'll be diving in to after the holiday but today we're good. I sprang most of them right after the meeting, and there were only a very few people still in the office when I left. Though they swore they'd be gone within half an hour too."

"Okay," she replied with a decisive nod. "I just want to make sure that you know I don't expect you back early all the time."

He smirked at her. "And for that I thank you." Rory smiled at him and shook her head. "Now are you done here, or do you need some more time to finish up what you were working on?"

"I could use a bit more time," she replied thoughtfully glancing at the laptop and wrinkling her nose in thought. "Maybe half an hour more."

"Sounds good." Logan told her. "I was thinking of ordering in for dinner and then maybe we should tackle these books?"

"I am slightly amazed that the disorder isn't interfering with my ability to work." Rory commented.

"So it's a plan then. Any preference for dinner?" He asked as he stood up and made his way for the door. At the doorway he turned back to look at her. She was watching him and obviously considering her food options carefully. Finally she shook her head.

"Just nothing too spicy or smelly." She decided. "Anything else should be fine."

"Alright," he agreed and turned again to go. "Half an hour Ace."

Forty-five minutes later Rory found him lighting candles on the small terrace off the breakfast room. She smiled and went to him. Her arms slid around his waist and for a couple minutes she just held on. He wrapped his arms around her in return and rested his cheek against her head.

"You're just full of surprises tonight." She murmured into his chest before lifting her head to look him in the eye.

He shrugged. "What can I say? I felt like a little bit of romance with dinner was called for."

"I like the way you think Huntzberger." She commented and raised her face to his for a kiss, which he bestowed graciously, and with wonderful talent. A few moments later she pulled back. "So what'd you decide on?"

"Well, I figured we couldn't go wrong with Chinese," he admitted with a smirk and pulled from her arms. "It got here a couple minutes ago but I shoved it all in the oven to keep it warm till you came down. Just let me grab it and something to drink. You sit down."

"Why are you spoiling me?" She asked him suspiciously. "What did you do?"

Logan laughed and shook his head without responding. He pulled his arms from around her and headed inside. Rory took a seat and looked out over their small yard - small by Stars Hollow standards perhaps but quite generous for New York. At the very least it was a private outdoor space they would be able to let their child play in.

She thought of some of the criticisms her mother had voiced about her moving to New York. Though her relationship with Logan and his involvement in their child's life was Lorelai's primary issue, which really all related back to Christopher and to Lorelai's own jaded views of high society in general, her mother had made a few comments about the city, the lack of space, and lack of privacy which held at least a grain of truth to them. But you couldn't live in a city of twenty million people and expect to have the same kind of personal space or privacy that you would in more suburban or rural areas.

The simple truth was that Rory loved New York. She loved the culture and history of the city. She loved Central Park and all the museums, the theatre, and the shopping. She loved how rich with possibility the city was. She had always dreamed and planned on living there, even if the employment side of those dreams had altered, she saw no reason why she should abandon the rest. But she also understood that while she truly loved and looked forward to beginning the next chapter of her life in New York City, there was no guarantee they would live there forever. She was okay with that too. She was coming to realize, more every day, that as long as she was with Logan it really wouldn't matter where they lived, as long as they were together.

Rory had no idea how to explain that to Lorelai in a way she would understand though. Her mother had definite opinions, and one of them was that a woman's life should never be dependent on a man. Certainly, her happiness should never be dependent on him. And to a degree, Rory agreed with the sentiment. After all, it wasn't that Rory needed Logan to be happy; it was simply that she was happiest with him.

She knew they wouldn't always agree on how to do things, on how to live. They would argue with and challenge one another frequently. Yet finding a way to compromise, a way to work through the disagreements, that was far more worthwhile than always being right. Which was something she wasn't sure her mother had ever really realized or believed. Lorelai was simply too used to being the one in charge, the leader. She'd directed the course of Rory's life for far too many years, and Rory could see in retrospect that Lorelai's relationships with men, even with Luke, were largely orchestrated by her mother. For herself, Rory didn't want to have to be in charge all of the time. She wanted to share that responsibility with a partner, not shoulder it alone.

She was lost in thought when Logan came back out with the food and didn't even notice as he made another quick return to the kitchen to grab the iced tea he'd made for them. With the pitcher in one hand and two glasses in the other, he returned again to the table and sat across from her. He poured for both of them and then began taking cartons of Chinese food from the bag.

"Good thoughts?" He asked curiously.

She turned her head and smiled at him again. "Most of them."

"I hope you're hungry, I think I ordered enough for a normal couple for the whole weekend." Logan teased.

"Which means it should last us till lunch tomorrow?" Rory wondered half seriously.

Logan laughed and the pair dug into the food. They talked while they ate - discussing everything from the upcoming projects Logan's team would be working on, Rory's hiring of a literary agent who would soon be proposing her books to several publishing houses in New York, and, of course, about the baby. Rory told him about the offer she'd made her grandmother to come and help with the nursery, and for Emily to stay with them when she was in New York.

"Have you called Lorelai and asked her to come too then?" He asked after she'd relayed the whole of her conversation with Emily. "You know you want her to, and it would probably go a long way to easing some of the tension if the invitation came from you and not through Emily."

"I mentioned the idea to her when I talked to her yesterday." Rory admitted quietly. "I really don't know how she felt about it."

Logan frowned. "What do you mean?"

"She didn't say she wanted to come but she also didn't say she wouldn't. It was almost a 'meh, we'll see how I feel that day' kind of reaction." Rory groused. "I just want her to be excited for us, for me. I want her to be excited about the baby. Right from the start, she really hasn't shown any enthusiasm about the whole thing. She was supportive and encouraging, but never actually enthused."

"I'm sorry Ace." Was all he could really say.

"It's not your fault," she told him with a small shrug. "She knew for well over a month before you did and she wasn't much different even then."

"She was more supportive before I came back into the picture." Logan pointed out.

Rory hesitated and shrugged lightly again, though Logan knew it wasn't a topic she took lightly at all. "Was she? If the situation were different and you hadn't come back into the picture, I still would have made all those realizations about myself, and my relationship with mom growing up that I did while writing. I don't think I would have ended up settling in Stars Hollow to have the baby, which is what she wanted. I doubt she would have been any more supportive of my decisions if I'd chosen to stay in Hartford, or if I moved to Boston, or Danbury, or Philadelphia."

"Maybe you're right," Logan agreed hesitantly, yet he recalled Lorelai's visit and the way she'd zeroed in specifically on him, on his involvement in Rory's life, and in the baby's. Of course, he also recalled the argument he and Rory had had after she'd found out about the visit, and the therapy session they'd spent discussing, with Matt mediating things, why Logan hadn't immediately told her about it, and how they both should face such circumstances in the future. "But it's no secret that my being involved only exasperates things with your mom."

"I know, Logan I do. But we can't let her issues become ours. Remember what Matt said when we talked about the situation with Mom. She can have her opinion, her voice in the matter, but we are the ones who have to live our lives." Rory reminded him in a gentle voice but firmly. "We can consider her thoughts and feelings, even make considerations for them, but we have to make our decisions based on what's best for you and for me, and for the baby. That won't always make her happy but there's only so far we can and should go to please her."

"I just don't want you to regret—" he began and was cut off.

"We've talked about this Logan." Rory said softly.

He clenched his jaw stubbornly for a minute, then released a sigh. "I know. I just hate that you and your mom are at odds, and mostly because of me."

"It is what it is, Logan," Rory replied. "She has to come to terms with the fact that I'm actually an adult with my own life. And that occasionally I'm going to make decisions she doesn't agree with, but those decisions don't mean I don't love her or that I don't want her to be a part of my life."

"Well for all our sakes, I hope Emily is right and the baby will turn things around for her." Logan murmured.

Rory nodded. "Me too."

* * *

Rory flung the door open and smiled brightly. "Hi! You're here! Come in." She stepped back and gestured inside.

"Oh, Rory," Emily said softly. "It's beautiful."

She looked around the room, trying to picture it through their eyes. She loved the way the space on the main floor flowed from room to room, and in each area seemed to invite you to sit and stay awhile. Her smile widened with pleasure. "I'm really happy with the way it's coming together. It's not all as put together as this floor but we add a little bit here and there as we find something we love and want to add."

"Well the two of you have certainly done a good job." Her grandmother assured her. "I can tell just by looking at this space that these would be your primary entertaining rooms, but you've made them inviting and comfortable too, so they have a look that says, 'we actually live here.'"

Rory beamed. "That was the goal. We knew we'd have to entertain occasionally but we still have to use the rooms every day. We wanted things to be nice, but we also wanted them to reflect our personalities."

"You don't have a TV." Lorelai commented, speaking for the first time since coming through the door.

"Not in here. We've got a great set up downstairs for watching movies and TV. Logan and the guys went all out for the entertainment system down there." Rory promised her. "There's a TV in each of the guest rooms too. Plus, we've got one in our bedroom, Logan has one in the study which doubles as his home office, and there's a little one in the kitchen that I typically have tuned to CNN."

"Oh," Lorelai murmured.

Emily shifted slightly. She wasn't unaware of the tension between mother and daughter, but she wasn't sure she could do anything more to help with it. She'd managed to get Lorelai to come with her to the city for a few days, despite her initial unwillingness. Unless she found herself presented with an optimal opportunity, she'd give the girls a bit of time now that they were here, to work on things themselves.

"What do you think Lorelai?" Emily prompted. "Should we get settled in first or get a tour?"

Rory glanced back and forth between them and raised her eyebrows waiting for a response.

"I don't know," Lorelai finally answered. "Maybe we should take our bags to our room and go from there?"

"That sounds just fine with me. Though I think I'd like a moment to freshen up before the tour commences." Emily agreed cheerfully.

"In that case," Rory suggested with ease. "Why don't I take you up the elevator. Your rooms are on the top floor and then we can work our way down using the stairs."

"Great." Lorelai agreed, though her tone was barely conciliatory.

"I think we'll all fit in one go, but if we don't, I'll take you up first grandma. That way you'll have a couple minutes to do your freshening while I come back down for mom." Rory said and led them to the elevator door at the entrance to the kitchen.

In the end, Rory had to leave Lorelai downstairs while she took Emily up. While she waited Lorelai glanced around the kitchen and living rooms. She didn't explore, there would be plenty of time for that later, but she did look. She had to admit that her mother was right. Rory and Logan had done a fantastic job of decorating this floor with its big front room and kitchen. Lorelai was willing to bet that originally the rooms hadn't been all opened up and connected, but the way it was now it was a really great layout of space. She set her bag down and stepped lightly to the other side of the room. Peeking into the door opposite the elevator, she found a little powder room and smiled at the art she found hanging on the wall. That piece seemed like it should be out of place in the home of an affluent Upper West Side couple, and yet as she looked around the whole main floor from where she stood she realized that just as the decor was representative of Rory and Logan, so too was this small, single piece of art hanging in the little half-bath off the kitchen.

"Mom," Rory said as she opened the elevator door. "Your turn."

Lorelai nodded, still looking at the art. "Where'd you find this?" She asked with a head gesture toward the piece.

"What?" Rory wondered, confused by the out-of-nowhere question.

"'_Get naked. Just kidding. This is a half bath, don't make it weird.'_ It's cute. I like it." She replied, finally closing the door and turning back to the elevator.

"Oh, uh, we found all the bathroom art in this cool little shop in Soho. All the bathrooms have something of a similar style." Rory admitted. "We actually found the art that's in your room in another shop near there."

Lorelai smiled, finally showing an interest that had thus far been absent. "Then let's go see it."

It took them nearly an hour to work their way back down from the fifth floor, where both guest rooms were located, through the fourth floor which held the master suite, and to the third floor where both her and Logan's offices and the nursery were located. While considerable time had been spent examining every square inch of the master bathroom and the fourth-floor terrace, Emily and Lorelai had been entranced with the whimsical mural Olivia had produced in the nursery.

It was filled with Rory and Logan's life. A gazebo was central in the image and appeared to be in the middle of a fairytale meadow. Branching out from it, like dozens of yellow brick roads, were pathways heading in all directions. Those paths winded through the meadow, sometimes splitting or merging with other paths, and led to a multitude of places represented around the edges of the wall. Yale, Stars Hollow, Hartford, London, New York, places important to Rory, other's important to Logan. Interspersed throughout, blending with or hidden in the meadow were symbols: an umbrella, a coffee cup, a playing card with an ace, a sailboat, a newspaper, a tiara, and more.

Lorelai was amazed, plain and simple. It just wasn't what she'd expected either Rory or Logan to have chosen. She'd expected animals on safari or fairies, though those typical images were mixed in and hidden within the bigger picture. She had not expected this visual amalgamation of two very different lives. Yet as obviously different as aspects of the image were, it all came together into a cohesive story. Or so it seemed. Seeing their lives laid out that way, so different from one another and yet blended together into a single thing, it made Lorelai wonder whether their real lives could be as easily made in to one.

She was about to say something to Rory when the youngest Gilmore's cellphone rang. Lorelai and Emily watched as Rory glanced at the screen, grimaced slightly and then turned apologetically to them.

"I'm sorry," She told them, already edging toward the door. "You guys keep looking but I've got to take this. It should only be a couple minutes."

"No problem, sweets," Lorelai murmured even as Rory tapped the screen and lifted the phone to her ear.

"Rory Gilmore," they heard her voice as she exited the room and made a quick right turn in to the hallway the older women had spied before entering the baby's room. They remained quiet and heard Rory's next words. "Oh, Alayna, yes, hi. Of course, I have a few minutes right now."

Emily and Lorelai glanced at each other. "I wonder who Alayna is? Do you know?" Emily questioned.

"I'm not sure, but I think Alayna is the name of the literary agent she hired." Lorelai said uncertainly. The book, and Rory's prospects as an author as opposed to those as a journalist, was yet another topic of conversation that she had mostly been avoiding with her daughter. She hadn't broached another argument with Rory after their discussion about Lorelai's previous trip to this house, but she was morbidly curious whether Logan had been right about Rory's refusal of HPG offers. And if he was right, Lorelai thought as she gazed at the mural again, how much had her own attitude fed into Rory's decisions on those offers.

"Oh, how wonderful!" Emily exclaimed and Lorelai glanced over to her. She'd expected Emily to be looking at something in the room but instead she discovered Emily looking out the window.

"What?" She asked curiously and moved to her mother's side.

Emily gestured to their left and immediately Lorelai saw Rory in what obviously must be her office. "She'll be able to peek in and see the baby from her office."

"It's nice too that you can see into the yard from all of these back rooms. Rory should be able see the whole yard from her office too. That would be an asset when the baby is older and can play on its own." Lorelai said and Emily looked at her sharply and narrowed her eyes.

"That nearly sounded complimentary." She commented.

Lorelai sighed and backed away from the window, then turned to gaze at the mural again. "I'm trying."

"Are you?" Emily asked seriously with a small frown creasing her face.

"I look at that," Lorelai began with a gesture at the image on the wall. "And I wonder if their lives really can blend so smoothly together."

"Lorelai," Emily murmured after a moment. "The blending of two lives is very rarely easy. They're different people, with similar but different backgrounds, different experiences, different goals. It would be more surprising if it was smoothly possible."

"Shouldn't it be though?" Lorelai asked but kept her eyes locked on the wall, on the gazebo at the center. "If you're intending to spend your life with someone shouldn't it be with someone that help makes the road ahead smooth? Shouldn't it be someone that is more like you than different?"

Emily considered the questions thoughtfully, watching Lorelai all the time. She knew that this, the seeming disparities between Rory and Logan formed a large part of Lorelai's issues with their relationship. She knew that wasn't the sum of it, but it was an important part. Finally she spoke softly. "If what you want for your life is to continue as it always has, then finding that someone who helps keep the road level and the future uncomplicated is right for you. Other people want to look to the future and know that anything could happen. For them, finding someone who is as excited by the idea of adventure and possibility as they are is important. They understand that life is complicated, Lorelai, and they know that this existence is an ever changing life. They're prepared for the bumps and the detours because they face them together."

"Even people that want an uncomplicated life have to be prepared for bumps and detours." Lorelai commented.

"Yes," Emily agreed and continued. "But I've often wondered how successfully they can manage dealing with those unavoidable changes in direction."

"Most changes are avoidable." Lorelai argued. "It's why we're taught and why we teach to always consider the consequences of our actions."

"Mistakes still happen, Lorelai," she said with a shake of her head. "Sometimes those mistakes are damaging and cause harm, other times they are wonderful, beautiful mistakes that turn out to be the best blessing of your life."

They were quiet for several minutes, so quiet they could faintly hear the excited sound of Rory's voice from the other room. Lorelai glanced toward her daughter and Emily's gaze followed hers. They both watched her for another moment then Emily turned to face Lorelai.

"Rory once told an entire courtyard of peers and distinguished elders that you never gave her any idea that she couldn't do or be whatever she wanted. She explained to everyone present that day, that you'd given her a vast array of role models to look up to, to yearn to emulate. And yes, she said that as a child the person she most wanted to be like was you. But Lorelai, eventually every child becomes an adult themselves, and as an adult they must find out who they want to be for themselves. At some point they have to stop trying to be like other people and start simply being their own person." Emily told her seriously.

Lorelai made no response, though Emily observed her daughter clenching her jaw and swallowing more than once. Seeing Lorelai wasn't prepared to speak she continued with the final word she had to say on the matter. "Her choosing this lifestyle, one that is so very different from the one you've chosen for yourself; it has nothing to do with you Lorelai. And everything to do with her. This house is the home she's choosing to make for herself and her family. Logan is the man she's chosen for herself. New York, society, writing a book - these are all choices she's making for her, because they are ones that make her happy. She's the one who must live her life. Not you. Not me. Her. Why shouldn't she choose the things she wants and needs to make herself feel fulfilled with her life, and pleased by it?"

Lorelai breathed deeply, turned away from the window and her mother, and finally spoke. "I've got a few ideas now for this room. I don't think we should make it too babyish in appearance. It should be comfortable, and the placement of things should be almost intuitive - for everything from the furniture to where diaper change items are stored. I think they'll want it to look young and appealing to a child but also to them."

"I agree," Emily replied with a soft sigh. "The room will evolve as the child grows but as a nursery, it should definitely reflect as much about the parents as it should their hopes for the child."

"Do you think this will remain the baby's room as it gets older?" Lorelai asked, vaguely recalling Rory's comment about the possibility of other children.

"For a time, I'm sure it will." Emily answered with a shrug. "Keeping the child here would be convenient while they're small. But I'm rather sure that once he or she is older Rory and Logan would move them to one of the rooms upstairs."

"Maybe they'd keep the room as a playroom or something?" Lorelai suggested.

Emily nodded. "Yes. That would be a good idea. Or you never know, they may decide to have more children. Logan has a sister."

"Hmmm."

"Well, let's go look at her office. I believe there are still got two more floors to look over too." Emily suggested and led the way out of the room. They followed the sound of Rory's voice through a hallway that abutted the nursery and paused momentarily at the door to the room.

Rory's office was bright with light that shone through windows on two sides, both looking over the yard. On the third wall, which ran the length of the room, floor to ceiling shelves had been built. Her couch from Yale was opposite the wall of shelves and an oval table sat between them. Another bookshelf, this one only slightly higher than waist height, sat immediately to the right of the door. There was a bouquet of spring blooms on that shelf, while another bouquet rested on another low shelf that spanned the window at the other end of the room. Picture frames and a model rocket also decorated the top of that far shelf.

The beautiful antique desk Rory had found for herself was close to that far wall, slightly angled so she would face into the room with the windows behind and beside her. The walls had been painted a very pale blue and the wood floor gleamed, as it had everywhere else in the house they'd seen thus far. Rory herself was on the other side of the desk but with her back to them, staring out the window while she listened intently to whatever was being said over the phone. She made small noises or murmured quietly here and there but was for the most part silent while Lorelai and Emily perused the room.

Emily had just settled on to the couch, Lorelai leaning against the bookshelf beside the door, when Rory finally spoke.

"They want to do it as _seven_ books?" She asked her caller. "I had thought maybe two but seven?" She listened for another minute. "Well, of course, I understand the idea of a book for each year, it's very Potter-esque, but they really want to do it in seven?"

There were several minutes of silence and Lorelai and Emily glanced at each other with confused expressions before looking back to Rory.

"Well obviously I'm incredibly flattered by the offer," Rory eventually said. "I'm going to have to go through my outline and take a look and what I've written already to see whether seven books would even be feasible with what I had planned. In order to make it a justifiable concept I need to make sure that there would be enough content to really fill seven books."

Rory listened again. "I'm not saying no Alayna, I am interested. But I need a couple days to determine whether I actually have enough to tell to write seven books in what amounts into a single story. Can I let you know by Monday?" She sighed as she listened to the response she received.

"It's Wednesday afternoon now. Can I give you a call Friday? Will it be soon enough for you to let them know one way or the other by the end of the day Friday?" Rory asked.

"Well, let's do that then." Rory said after a brief moment. "I'll go over my things and talk with my editors to see what their feelings on it are, and I'll get back to you on Friday."

Rory laughed at what Alayna replied with and spoke one last time in conclusion of the call. "Thanks, Alayna. This is honestly a far better deal than I imagined would be offered. I'll talk to you soon." And with that she pulled the phone from her ear and touched the icon on the screen to end the call. She let out a huff of breath and tossed the phone on the top of the shelf under the window.

Lorelai and Emily watched as her hands rose to cover her face for a minute before she pulled them away, held them out in front of her and observed them shaking. After a few seconds she tightened them into fists and released a gusty sigh. Then she began to turn to face the room and jumped in surprise to discover her mother and grandmother in the room, obviously having listened in to at least part of the conversation. Rory bit her lip and waited.

"Seven books?" Lorelai eventually asked. "I don't understand. I thought it was an autobiography type of deal."

Rory lowered slowly to her office chair and played with a chunk of hair that hung over her shoulder. "It started that way."

"I think you're going to have to add a little more to the explanation for this to make any sense." Lorelai added when Rory didn't immediately continue.

"I started out just telling our story mom. The more I worked on it, the more I thought about our lives, the less inclined I felt to share all those things with the world and claim them as my life." Rory told her, told them. "But there were incredible stories in there. Our life was an incredible story. So I decided to make small changes; to alter this idea, or indulge this fantasy alternative, and make it fiction based on a true story. So it's still us but at the same time it's not entirely us."

"And seven books?" Emily asked. "You made the comment that it was essentially a book per year, I'm not sure I understand that."

Rory smiled slightly. "There's backstory, but essentially the real story begins at roughly the point when I got into Chilton. Because it was at that point that our lives began to change."

"So, seven years, seven books, would take you to when you graduate Yale." Lorelai guessed, finally able to speak again. "It would take you to the point where you head off on the campaign tour, or roughly then."

"Roughly, yes," Rory agreed. "But in my book Laura, the character who is essentially me, says yes when her boyfriend asks her to marry him. The last several chapters will be about them moving across the country, her struggle to find work, and eventually landing the job on the campaign tour. They have to figure out how to make their relationship survive while she's on the road and he's busy trying to prove that he can be successful without his father's backing. The book will end with their wedding."

"Or the seventh book would." Rory amended after a moment. "It's a bit overwhelming to think seven books."

"When did you decide to fictionalize it?" Emily asked curiously. "You never mentioned anything about changing the genre to me, or apparently to your mother."

Rory shrugged. "It just sort of happened after the wedding. I was spending all this time writing and thinking about what I was writing, and about what I would leave out, and then it changed. I realized that I could share the incredible foundation of our story without exposing either one of us to unnecessary exposure by fictionalizing it. I could do what everyone, at one point or another, dreams of doing - I could re-write my story to become what I occasionally fantasized it could be. I could right wrongs, take risks, say the things I would never have said in real life."

"I didn't realize there were so many things about your childhood that you wanted to change." Lorelai said somewhat stiffly.

"I loved our life." Rory told her emphatically. "But everyone looks back and thinks 'if only I could change that,' or 'I wish I had said this during that argument.' That's what I'm doing with the story. I'm fulfilling all those hindsight 'if only's.'"

"It sounds fascinating." Emily put in. "You always had entertaining stories to tell your grandfather and I. I'm rather sure the story you're telling now, based as it is on your own teen years, will be an interesting one as well."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Lorelai asked her.

"Because you made it very clear, right from the beginning, that you didn't support the idea of my writing the book." Rory admitted. "Before the wedding you sort of changed your stance. You still weren't supportive of my writing, but you wouldn't stand in the way either. And you refused to read what I had written. Add to the fact that any time I've brought the book up, you changed the subject, I guess I didn't feel like having another argument. Like you told me: if you hated it, you'd just sue me later."

Lorelai shook her head. "But this changes that. It's not really our story anymore."

"It is, though, it is still our story." Rory asserted. "It just has more."

The three women were quiet for a moment, then Rory squared her shoulders and very deliberately redirected their attention. "So, what do you think of the room?"

"Your office is lovely, Rory." Emily told her sincerely. "When you first showed us Logan's study, I thought to myself 'well why isn't this Rory's? She's the one working at home all the time, after all.' But as soon as I stepped foot in here, I knew. This room is simply perfect for you."

Rory smiled and looked around, attempting to see it for the first time the way they were. "We went back and forth about it actually. Logan wanted me to use the bigger room, because I would be using it all the time. But I just don't need the space. Whereas if Logan's working at home and needed to have a meeting, he would have the space for other people in the room. I also really love the fact that I can see into the nursery and the yard from in here."

"It's great, truly. Were these shelves here? Or did you have them put in?" Emily asked.

"I had them built in." Rory explained. "I thought about just buying shelves, but I love all the built-ins in Grandpa's study. I decided putting them in here was a way to keep his memory with me, even here. And those books you let me take Grandma, they're mixed in with all of mine on the shelves."

"Like having little pieces of Dad scattered around the room." Lorelai murmured and looked around again.

"Yeah," Rory agreed.

Emily swallowed the lump of emotion that threatened to choke her. "You let me know if you'd like any more of them. Lord knows there are plenty more on the shelves in that study and you've got bookshelves in every single room, I've noticed."

"Even the bathrooms," Lorelai teased.

"I'll keep that in mind Grandma," Rory laughed. "Logan says there are some books at his parents' house that he'd like to get sometime. First editions or antiques, others that were gifts while he was growing up, those kinds of things. I think it's safe to say that between the two of us we won't have any problems filling all the shelves eventually."

"You better show us the rest of this place." Lorelai suggested. "Mom pointed out earlier that we're barely half through the tour."

"We've got time," Rory assured them both but laughing, pushed up from her chair. She recovered her cell phone from under the window and gestured them out of the room. "So, what was the final verdict on the nursery?"

* * *

So there you have it. Chapter 12. Rory's moved in to the New York Brownstone with Logan and together they're moving forward with their lives.

Hope you liked it... Maybe you'll let me know?!


	13. Just A Little Missing Detail

I love this story. I loved it as an idea in my head. I loved it while I was writing it. I love it as I reread it and edit chapter by chapter. And I have to admit... I love that all of you really like - and even love - it too! Thank you to all of you for reading. Thank you to everyone who takes the time to comment/review. Just - thank you.

Christmas is coming - 8 days! - and I'm insanely busy but here I am with another new chapter. Enjoy!

As ever, _I do not own _Gilmore Girls_ or any of it's various parts, nor do I seek reimbursement or compensation for this story I've written using the _Gilmore Girl _world as a foundation. _

* * *

**Chapter 13: Just A Little Missing Detail**

Rory reclined in their bed listening to the distant sound of Logan showering. He'd arrived home a few hours earlier to discover Rory, Lorelai and Emily in the kitchen with Rory's laptop looking at baby furniture online. Lorelai and Emily had been indulging in a glass of wine, while Rory sipped a cup of tea. The trio of Gilmore's had finished the house tour and decided to try and get an idea for the style of furniture they needed to find when they went out shopping the next day. Lorelai had greeted Logan civilly, which was honestly no more than he'd expected, but Emily had startled him with a warm hug and gracious exclamation of happiness to have him back in their lives. In the end, Logan had ended up taking the three women out to dinner and had been entertained by both Emily's tales of life in Nantucket, and Lorelai's stories of Stars Hollow craziness.

They'd gotten back to the house late and both Emily and Lorelai had headed straight up to their rooms for the night. Logan and Rory had more slowly followed them upstairs and ensconced themselves in their own room. Rory had changed immediately for bed and was just finished her nightly routine at her sink when Logan had come into the bathroom.

"We haven't had a chance to talk tonight," he'd commented as he hung a towel by the shower. "Don't go to sleep before I get out there. I want to hear how things went when your mom and Emily got here."

So, she waited and spent the time thinking about the afternoon and evening with her family. She'd actually been surprised by her mother. Lorelai was clearly still hesitant about Rory's changing situation, but she'd been much more open to things since she'd arrived. Rory wasn't sure what it was that seemed to have cause a shift in her thinking. She was just going to be grateful for that shift.

Then there was the book proposal to think about. When she'd begun writing she'd intended for it to be a single book. The more she'd managed to get out, the clearer it had seemed to her she would need to split the story up. She'd been basically planning to do one book for her Chilton years and release a second book for her Yale years depending on how the first one did.

But seven books? Could she dissect those seven years and write enough to justify each year having its own book? Did she have that much to say? Could she make up enough to fill the space, while also holding to the integrity of the story she wished to tell?

She wasn't sure.

"So," Logan said coming into the room, still rubbing at his hair to dry it. "I heard plenty about what they thought of the house while we were at dinner. Emily was certainly chatty and definitely likes what we've done so far. But I couldn't really get a feel for your mom."

"You and me both." Rory commented. "She was still sort of standoffish when her and grandma got here. Somewhere between taking Grandma up the elevator to her room and finishing the tour of the house, she seemed to thaw a bit."

"I noticed that." Logan agreed. "She held herself back when I first got back tonight, but I thought she was being almost warm toward me by the time we were home after dinner."

Rory smirked at him and teased. "That may have had something to do with the wine."

"Maybe," Logan laughed a little and climbed into the bed beside her. He turned off all the lights except one over the fireplace. The two of them shifted around until she lay curled up against him with her head on his chest, his arm circling her shoulders.

"I think she was surprised that this whole place feels like a home. I don't think she expected it could feel like anything but a show place, similar to Grandma and Grandpa's house in Hartford. She commented on all the little things we've added to the rooms - from lots of pillows on the beds and those big comfy chairs in the rooms upstairs, to the art in the bathrooms. Which she says is clever and fun by the way." Rory told him as he continuously ran his fingers through her hair.

"I honestly sort of expected her to avoid me at all cost while she was here, after the way things went down when she showed up last time." Logan said.

Rory poked him in the ribs. "I still can't believe you told my mother all those things we talked about in therapy."

"I said I was sorry, and I am," Logan replied, apologizing yet again. "I shouldn't have done it and I shouldn't have let her make me lose control of my temper enough to share details that weren't mine to share. I knew that's what she was trying to do, and I let her walk me right into it. I'm pretty mad at myself about it to be honest."

"Good, I'm mad at you too." Rory told him. "But I'm more mad at mom than at you. She had no right to come here like that in the first place. I still don't really understand what her endgame was. I mean, I can't imagine she actually thought she'd be able to convince you to stop me from moving in here, so I don't get it. Whatever the aim, the only thing she really managed was to drive us even further apart."

"I don't know either, not really. But I know she wanted me to understand that whatever may be between you and I, to her mind, she was always going to be the most important person in your life." Logan said.

"You know what, I don't want to talk about this anymore." Rory said suddenly. "I actually got news about my book today."

He jolted slightly under her head. "You did?" He asked and Rory sighed at the clear interest in his voice.

"Yeah, Alayna called in the middle of the house tour." Rory explained. "I left mom and Grandma in the nursery and they ended up eavesdropping on the conversation when they followed me to my office."

"Really?"

Rory nodded against him. "Uh huh. They now know the story is being fictionalized."

"How'd they take the news about that?" He wondered.

"Really well, actually. You know I wasn't sure what they'd think about me writing a novel but they both seemed to like the idea." Rory told him. "But that's not the really interesting part."

"No?" He intoned with rising curiosity.

"No." She agreed. "Alayna was calling because she'd had a meeting with Penguin. Well, with others too, but Penguin was the one she called about."

He shifted enough, and she shifted too, so he could look her in eye. Something in her expression caused a smile to grow on his face. "And?"

"You're very monosyllabic tonight." She commented with a slight frown, teasing him with the delay.

"And?" He asked again while he gently poked and tickled at her ribs.

"And," she laughed. "They want the story."

"I told you!" Logan exclaimed and lowered his head to catch her lips, simultaneously pulling her up to meet him.

"But—" she interrupted and lifted a finger to his lips to halt their descent.

He waited a moment, then impatient with her delay, asked the obvious question. "But what?"

She searched his eyes a moment, still delaying the rest of her explanation, then relented with a sigh. "But they want me to change things. Or I guess 'add more,' would be more accurate. I told you I figured I'd have to split the story into the Chilton years and the Yale years. They want me to do more than that. They want me to do it year by year, a book for each, and make it in to a seven-book series."

"That's, wow. Seven books?" He repeated and though it was spoken as a question, Rory realized immediately that he wasn't actually seeking a response. He repeated it one more time in an effort to allow the idea to sink in. "Seven books!"

"Seven." Rory echoed and he heard worry in her tone.

"You don't think you could do it?" He asked incredulously. He hadn't read everything she'd written yet. He'd read many of the early chapters that had already been through a round of editing.

"I don't know," she admitted honestly. "I'd basically have to go back to the drawing board. I'd have to separate what I've already got into their various years. I'd have to reconsider adding in some of the scenes I'd deliberately left out before. I'd have to restructure the story arcs. Each book, each year would have to have its own story, while also fitting into one that spans the entire series, and even better if there were mini arcs that encompass multiple books. It'll be a lot more work, in the planning of it and the writing. I can't even imagine how long it would take me to complete seven books worth of writing."

Logan shook his head. "You seem to know exactly what you need to do to make it work. But you're looking at the story like a journalist who doesn't publish until the story's complete. A book, especially a book series would different, Ace. Of course, you'd have to do all the planning beforehand. You'd need to know where you were going with each book, where each'd start and finish. You'd need to have a solid grasp on which leads to string along from one to the next, or the next. But it's not as if you'd be attempting to publish all seven books in one shot. You'd go year by year. Writing, editing, polishing, promoting."

"Doesn't it seem like a really big commitment on something that may flop?" Rory asked insecurely.

He studied her for a long minute. "Do you want to tell the story?"

"Yes," she replied immediately, no hesitation in her tone.

"Then whether you do it one, or two, or seven books, you just tell the story. There is always going to be a risk that it won't be as widely popular as hoped. But that risk is mostly on the publisher. Alayna would have given them your sample chapters Ace," he told her. "They've made the offer based on what they've seen of the story and of your writing style. They're not walking in to anything blindly and they know the market. So they also wouldn't have made the offer if they didn't believe they could sell it."

"You think I should do it." Rory assessed.

"I think," Logan said, speaking carefully and considering his words. "If you look over what you've got, and you spend some time fiddling with your outlines, considering what more from your real life could be put in and what more you'd need to fictionally develop. And you seriously assess whether stretching the years into a seven-book span is feasible from the standpoint of the story itself. If it is, Ace, if it is possible, I think you'd be crazy not to do it."

"So, you think I should do it." She repeated and smile teasing the corner of her lips.

He chuckled somewhat breathlessly. "I think you should do it. But it doesn't matter what I think. Rory, you're the only one who can decide whether you should or shouldn't do this. It's your story."

"I know," Rory admitted. "I guess I just want to know whether you think I should. It's a massive undertaking. Much more consuming of both time and energy than what I was originally intending. It'd be a commitment of years, Logan. And with the baby? How will I manage raising our child and being accountable to the demands of writing, and editors, and deadlines, publishers and promoters, and everything else this would ask of me?"

"Hey," he stopped her nervous ramble with a quick kiss. "Your mom raised you alone, while she was still basically a child herself, and she worked full-time. You won't be alone. I'll be here and I have just as much responsibility to ensure that we're doing a good job with our kid as you do. Furthermore, if, and I stress the 'if', we needed help occasionally, we can hire someone to help out."

"I don't want to hire a nanny." Rory said definitively.

"And I don't think we'd ever actually need one full-time." Logan said agreeing with her. "But it wouldn't be a bad thing to find and have someone that we can call on, as needed, to help out. Maybe you've got a deadline approaching and you need a few uninterrupted hours a day to work. Maybe we've got functions which will keep us out all evening and we can't or won't take our child with us. Maybe we want to go on a date and have a few hours of privacy."

"You're talking about a babysitter." She frowned.

Logan shrugged. "I guess, but I think 'babysitter' is a very casual, very informal way of describing someone we'd essentially be trusting our child's wellbeing to. You could say 'caregiver' but that just brings to my mind old people and end-of-life care."

"Which brings us right back around to having a _nanny_." Rory pointed out.

"Someone we interview, and vet. We'd be trusting them with our child Rory, whether for a couple hours here and there, or a few hours every day." Logan said seriously. "I'd want to know everything we could about them. I'd also prefer if we got along with and liked them as a person too."

"Do you really think we need to hire a nanny, or babysitter, or caregiver, or whatever you want to call them?" Rory asked. "Mom never had babysitters for me. I mean, once in a while I'd hang out with Mia or with Sookie, but even that was pretty rare."

"Your mother did an amazing job raising you in what I'm sure, whether she'd admit to it or not, were difficult circumstances. You're an amazing person." Logan said, again using that very careful tone. "But I think a big part of the reason she wanted to control everything about your life so much, was because she didn't really have a life of her own to focus on. You were it. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Trust me, having the opposite - parents that have little interest in what you do, little interaction with you from day to day, and little desire for anything more - that's damaging too, in more ways than one."

"I know that Logan, which is why I'm not sure having a nanny is a good idea." Rory interjected.

"But I have to believe there's a happy medium between those two extremes. And I think you can agree with me on that." Logan said.

"It would be ridiculous to hire a full-time nanny." Rory finally, eventually said softly. Logan released a soft sigh he could only call relief, as he identified the thoughtful tone in her voice. She was thinking, considering both sides of argument. "But you're right that there will be times and functions when having someone we know and trust to watch the baby would be smart. I guess you could compare it, sort of, to hiring a cleaning service to come in once a week to clean the house."

Logan snorted a laugh because that was another ongoing argument they'd been having. "It is comparable. But I still say we should hire someone to come in a couple times a week. The place is too large to deal with in one day, unless there's a whole team of cleaners, and it would also be nice if we could have them prepare us a meal on the days they were here. You're still barely capable of putting together a meal and I don't want to have to do it every night."

"We live in the city that never sleeps," Rory laughed. "There are a multitude of takeout places open 24 hours a day."

"That's true and I'm sure we'll still have more than our fair share takeout meals. But takeout palls after a while, and home cooked meals are better." Logan told her.

"Depends on the meal." Rory groused.

He laughed again. "I'm not suggesting we'd have them make us seven course cordon bleu meals. Just homemade. Fancy food palls even quicker than takeout. Trust me."

"I know," she complained teasingly.

"The maid, or housekeeper, or whatever, would only need to be around a few days a week. And not even all day. But I really do think having someone to keep up on cleaning and laundry, and some cooking, would be a good idea. Especially once the baby's here." Logan informed her.

Rory frowned in thought. "I have to think about this Logan. It just seems a little silly to pay someone to clean the house, or cook us food, or watch the baby, when I'll be here everyday and could do it myself."

"If you were sitting here doing nothing, I would agree." Logan told her. "But it's not as if you'd be twiddling your thumbs and drinking Mai Tai's at two in the afternoon. You'll be working, Ace. It's perfectly reasonable for working parents to have help with the housework or with their children. And that's true whether you're a member of high society or of the blue-collar working class."

"It just seems so very different from the way I grew up." Rory admitted. "I'm not saying no, to the housekeeper or the nanny. But I need to think about it some more."

"That's all I ask." Logan agreed. "Did I distract you sufficiently from your worry about the books?"

Rory burst out laughing. "Is that what you were doing?"

"Did it work?" He wondered chuckling along with her.

"I guess it did." She told him and settled down once again, shifting and adjusting her position so she'd be able to try and sleep.

"I'm going to have to think about that more too." She said several minutes later. Her voice had quickly taken on the weighty tones of sleep and Logan could tell she was very close to succumbing to its lure. "I'll call Jess tomorrow and see what he thinks of the idea from his standpoint."

Logan stiffened against her suddenly, but she was too far gone to notice and barely a minute later had fallen peacefully to sleep. Meanwhile, Logan was suddenly very awake. He'd had a long day and even just moments ago had been feeling the heaviness of his own exhaustion. His hours at the office had been busy with meetings and team updates. Added to that, his afternoon had screeched to a temporary, brain-pounding halt when his mother had shown up at the office. They'd argued for nearly half an hour, if you could really call her non-stop disparaging commentary on his life arguing, until his father had come into his office and put a stop to it. Another twenty minutes of discussion had been required before Mitchum had escorted Shira out of his office and he could get back to the work on his desk. Then once he'd arrived home, there'd been Rory's mother and grandmother to entertain.

He'd been ready to drop into his bed halfway through dinner.

Now he lay beside Rory and his mind was roiling. '_Why the Hell did she need to call Jess?'_

* * *

The question had to wait nearly a week before he could ask it. Though Lorelai and Emily had originally planned to leave Sunday afternoon, when Honor, Josh, and their kids suddenly showed up before lunchtime, the elder Gilmore ladies had decided to stick around a little longer. Honor insisted — in the slightly high-handed, yet somehow genteel way she'd developed over the past decade. She exclaimed over how long it had been since she'd seen Emily ("at least five years, Emily!"), and she positively gushed to Lorelai about how she'd always longed to meet her. And of course, the pièce de résistance of her entire persuasion was when she remarked, quite simply, how they were all basically one family now and should certainly get to know one another better.

In the end, the pieces of the two sides of their family spent the whole day together. Logan and Josh had been sent out to gather a variety of foods for their lunch, and for dinner they had ordered Chinese food. There was another obvious softening in Lorelai as the day had progressed and before his sister's family left, he'd noticed Lorelai discretely take Honor aside for a few private words and exchanging of phone numbers.

Due to the lateness of the hour by that point, Lorelai and Emily had been unable to leave that day as planned. Then when the final few items for the nursery had arrived first thing Monday morning, Emily had delayed her departure yet another day to help Rory finish up the nursery - Lorelai having been unable to stay as she had an afternoon meeting with her accountant at The Dragonfly. That evening Emily and the younger couple enjoyed a quiet simple meal at the house. They spoke on a variety of topics and Emily asked them a number of questions about the baby: gender preferences, name possibilities, and their plans for working after the birth to name a few. Logan had to take a call from London after dinner, leaving Rory and Emily to their own conversation, and by the time he'd wrapped things up, Rory was already asleep in their bed.

And so it was the following night, once he'd arrived home from work, that he finally had a chance to question Rory on the comment she'd made about Jess. He found her sitting on the rooftop deck, drinking a glass of iced tea and enjoying the days last rays of warmth from the sun. He dropped a kiss on the top of her head and sat in the chair opposite her.

"Did you have a good day?" He asked as he tipped his own head back and enjoyed some of that heat for himself.

Rory smiled at him. "I did actually." She admitted. "Grandma and Mom were good about giving me a bit of time each day to work, but it was really nice to be able to devote most of my time today to the book."

"Did you hear anything more from Alayna?" He wondered aloud.

"Not yet," Rory replied. "I did have that email first thing yesterday morning, letting me know that with my acceptance, Penguin wants to move forward with the deal. She said it'd be a couple days. I should probably find a contract lawyer for when we get to that point. I'm sure Alayna will work to get the best deal possible for me but I'm know it's probably still smart to have it gone over to make sure."

"I was going to suggest it," Logan murmured and opened his eyes to turn and look at her. "Colin mentioned it when we had lunch yesterday too and gave me a couple names for you."

"Awww." She hummed happily.

"Yeah, he sends congratulations by the way. Said he'd take us out to dinner next week one night to celebrate." Logan informed her.

She laughed quietly. "I'll email him tomorrow to tell him thank you and find out when will work best for him. And I'll look into those names."

"Good," he said with a small nod and relaxed even more into the chair. A few moments later he refocused on her and finally asked the question that'd been on his mind since the week before. "Rory, why did you say you needed to call Jess about the book deal?"

"What?" Rory asked him and glanced in his direction, a frown of confusion on her face. "When did I say that?"

Now he frowned. "As you were falling asleep last Wednesday, you muttered something about giving Jess a call to see what he thought about it."

"Jess is the one who suggested I write the book in the first place." She told him and shifted around in her seat, searching for a more comfortable position. As she did, her hand fell to her stomach and rubbed there slightly, a little grimace crossing her expression. When she settled again, she focused back on him and noticed the look of surprise on his face. "Didn't I tell you that?"

"No, no," Logan said firmly. "You definitely didn't tell me that."

"Oh, well, yeah. He'd come to the Hollow to help his mom and stepdad with something and he visited me at the Gazette office. I was complaining to him about all the things in my life that seemed like impossible obstacles and how I felt like a huge failure. He basically told me to suck it up, and to switch things up. And suggested I try to write about something I was truly passionate about." Rory explained simply, calmly. "When it became obvious that I couldn't do it as non-fiction, he was the one who convinced me to write it as a novel instead."

"But that was months ago Rory, before you even came to London to tell me about the baby." Logan commented, still confused.

She leaned back slightly, alerted by something in his tone that the topic was far from idle. "Jess is editing it for me. Well, he and one of the Truncheon editors. Jess doesn't normally do much of the editing himself."

"Since when?" He asked sharply.

"What do you mean, since when?" Rory wondered.

"How long have you been working with him? Hanging out with him?" Logan demanded.

Rory chuckled humorously. "Jess and Andrea have been editing the book since November."

"Has he been here?" Logan asked pointedly, gesturing vaguely to indicate the house.

"Logan, what—" Rory started, then suddenly paused and studied his face. "You're jealous. After all these years?"

He glanced away and clenched his jaw. For several long moments Rory was sure that he wouldn't answer. Eventually he sighed, rubbed his hand hard over his face a few times and turned back to her. "The last time we were around him at the same time, we ended up fighting in the middle of a bar and breaking up. Not all too long after that, you went to see him with the intention of cheating on me because you were pissed about Honor's bridesmaids. I just want to be sure that if he's around, he's not going to be a problem. For us."

"Logan," she murmured his name and reached across the table for his hand. He grasped it and held on tight. "Jess has become one of my very good friends and that's just something you're going to have to come to terms with. He is going to be in our lives. He's related to us - he is Luke's nephew, you know."

"I remember he's Luke's nephew. I also remember that you once loved him." Logan pointed out.

"I did. Once. I never loved him anywhere near as much as I've always loved you." She told him. "And, to be completely honest, he actually pushed hard for me to give you another real chance. To give us another chance. He's given me a lot of really good advice about mom, about us. He isn't going to cause you and me any problems."

He snorted in disbelief but searched her face to determine her sincerity. "That sounds a little far-fetched."

"Really, he's been rooting for you all along. In his way." She said, a slight smile curling the very corner of her lips.

Logan sighed again. "You're sure? I'm not an insecure guy anymore Rory. Except where it comes to you sometimes, it seems."

"I'm sure Logan. I'm sure about you and me, and I'm sure that Jess wants nothing, romantically, to do with me anymore." Rory promised.

"I love you, Ace," he told her seriously and squeezed her hand again. "I want us to work, to be together and to be a family, more than I've ever wanted anything else in my life."

"I want that too, Logan," Rory promised again and then gasped sharply, her free hand flying to her stomach. "Oh!"

"What?" Logan demanded, getting quickly to his feet and coming to kneel right beside her chair. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong." She told him fervently and shifted her hand to his wrist, leading his hand to rest on her stomach near her other hand. "I think our son or daughter was just putting in their own two cents on the topic."

Below their joined hands, they felt the repeated bumps and kicks coming from inside her womb. "I think they're in agreement with us then."

"I'd say so," Rory agreed and huffed out a laugh as the kicks continued, even more strongly, for another couple minutes. They stayed like that the whole time, Logan kneeling and leaning against her leg, both his hands splayed wide on her stomach with hers covering him. Once, he leaned down and kissed the rounded surface, whispering a couple words to the child inside. When the movement slowed, then ceased, Logan eventually climbed to his feet and pulled Rory to hers. He picked up her empty glass and turned her to the door back in to the house.

"So what do you feel like having for dinner?" He asked her. "Should be order in or do you want me to cook something?"

"Pizza," she declared quickly. "Baby definitely wants pizza for dinner tonight."

"Baby wants?" Logan asked with a roll of his eyes.

"Oh! And Wor WonTon Soup from that Vietnamese place a couple blocks away."

Logan shook his head, but he knew, just as she did, that pizza and wonton soup was precisely what they'd end up having for dinner.

* * *

There you have it... and wasn't it nice to have an entire chapter with just Logan and Rory? I guess it felt like time. I hope you enjoyed it.

Are you ready for the holidays? I'm no where near ready. Absolutely no where near it and just 8 days to go! Insanity, that's going to be my state for the foreseeable future.

Till next time - Happy Reading!


	14. Speak Now Or Hold Your Peace

Hey there!

First and foremost, I hope that everyone has been safe and healthy during the past months. Life has been a bit uncertain, a little crazy, and at times pretty chaotic. My family and I have been lucky - we've been healthy and we've remained safe. I've got mad love and only fierce hope for all those who haven't been as blessed as we've been during the last several months.

Now back to the story... life is tripping along for Rory and Logan, as life will, and Rory's pregnancy is drawing closer to it's end. Welcome, or welcome back to my continuation of the _Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life_ season on _Netflix_. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: _I don't own _Gilmore Girls, Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life_ or the encompassing characters, settings, or storylines therein. I have merely used the established canon to continue the story and create the ending (or future) I desire for my own and my reader's entertainment. No infringement is intended. _

* * *

**Chapter 14: Speak Now Or Hold Your Peace**

The tap on her office door was all the warning she had before it opened. As she'd just paused and was merely reading the last few lines she'd written, it was no great nuisance and she looked over immediately.

"Rory?" Margaret Riley said as she poked her head in the door. She had a slightly sheepish expression but when she saw Rory was already looking toward her, it cleared. "There a couple visitors here to see you."

"Oh, okay," Rory replied and tapped a couple keys to ensure her open documents were all saved. "What time is it?"

"Nearly five." Margaret told her. "Logan called a bit earlier to say he'd very likely be home by five, and requested I put something together for your dinner."

Rory smiled at the other woman and crossed the room toward her. She had ended up giving in to Logan's suggestion of hiring a housekeeper. Margaret had come to them through a service and was highly recommended by previous employers. She was approximately 45 years old, or so Rory and Logan had determined, and had three children of her own: two teenaged boys, 14- and 15-years old, and a 12-year-old daughter. She'd been with them for nearly two weeks and though they were still trying to determine the best schedule for her to work, currently she was coming in four days a week, and already Rory knew they would be lost without her. For all she'd hesitated and worried about whether they really needed a housekeeper, Rory had already graciously admitted to Logan that he'd been right, and she'd been wrong.

"You are a marvel, Margaret," she said as they walked down hall toward the stairs. "I'm just going to use the washroom up here quickly. Could you please make a pot of tea for me and offer drinks to the others?"

"The Peppermint Jasmine blend?" Margaret clarified, knowing that Rory had been drinking that particular blend the last few days.

Rory smiled and touched the housekeeper's arm as she passed the woman at the stairs. "Yes and thank you."

"Of course," she replied cheerfully, turning to go. "Take your time. I'll let them know you're on your way."

As Rory ducked into the bathroom outside Logan's office, she once again gave thanks she'd allowed herself to be convinced that a little household help was a thoroughly good idea.

A few minutes later, Rory carefully descended the stairs and turned into the living room with a smile still on her face. The expression froze, surprise taking over when she discovered her visitors were none other than Logan's parents, Mitchum and Shira Huntzberger. Though she had spent time with Honor on many occasions during the past four and a half months, she had so far been able to avoid any interaction with these two members of Logan's family.

"Hello," she said finally overcoming her momentary shock but suddenly unsure if she should sit or remain standing. "Logan's not home yet."

"So, your maid informed us." Shira replied, her tone clearing implying she believed there was something wrong with Margaret. "She also offered us beverages but has failed to return with them."

Rory suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. "I asked her if she would prepare a pot of tea for me. I'm sure she'll bring all of our drinks at the same time. Which I'm positive will be soon."

"You're looking very well, Rory," Mitchum commented with surprising kindness. "I remember how unhappy Honor was when she was this far along with Eliza."

"I feel very well, thank you." Rory responded and finally decided to sit down. "My pregnancy has been pretty smooth actually."

"Of course, it has." Shira said and there was almost a sneer in her words. "Why, I'm sure you're just made for breeding."

"I can't say I've ever heard that before, but my doctor is very happy with how things have gone." Rory finally said, though it took her a couple moments to put the words together. Her brows drew together. "Did Logan know you were coming to the house today?"

"Do you think we need an invitation to come into our own son's home?" Shira demanded.

She paused another moment, to save herself from saying something she may later regret. Finally, she released a breath. "That's not what I said, nor is it what I meant."

"And what precisely did you mean then?" Shira asked angrily. "It certainly sounded as if you were implying we weren't welcome here."

Rory laughed. "No, trust me Shira, at 36 weeks pregnant I don't have nearly the level of patience I used to. If you weren't welcome, I wouldn't waste my time implying anything."

"Here we are," Margaret announced cheerfully as she glided into the room with a large tray holding beverages for all of them and a small plate with delicate cookies. "White wine for you Mrs. Huntzberger. Scotch for you, sir. And Rory, you may want to let that tea steep for just a couple more minutes."

"Thank you, Margaret." She responded kindly and nodded at the other woman.

"I'll just be in the kitchen if you need anything else." Margaret told them all, though the assurance in her words was meant for Rory alone.

Shira sniffed. "What impertinence. Did you hear that Mitchum? I swear it's impossible to find decent help these days."

"I didn't hear anything of the sort." Mitchum countered, obviously trying to ease the tension between the two women. "And no, Rory, we didn't have the chance to let Logan know we were coming over. I'd hoped he would be here by now, as I heard through the grapevine that his last meeting had to be rescheduled."

"As far as I know, he should be home any time." Rory told him, trying to relax. She even offered him a small grateful smile for his efforts.

"Good, good," he replied. "Shira happened to be in my office this afternoon when I got word Logan would be done at work a bit early today. She has been dying to see the house and decided this was too good an opportunity to pass up."

"Apparently." Rory mutters and for lack of anything else to say or do, shifts so she can pour herself a cup of tea.

He sipped his scotch and looked back and forth between his wife and Rory. "How have things been going for you?"

"I haven't seen your name in a paper in positively ages." Shira said with patently false sweetness.

"I would be truly surprised if you had." Rory replied to Shira's comment with apparent good cheer. "I haven't been freelancing or otherwise writing for newspapers in months. Though if for some reason you got the Stars Hollow Gazette, you may still see my name in there every once in a while as an editor."

"So you're doing what now?" Shira asked, the fake sweet sound of it practically dripping condemnation. "Enjoying the comforts of Logan's success?"

Rory blinked at her, clearly debating how to answer and finally sighed deeply. "I'm writing a novel."

"Oh please, as if anyone would spend money on something you write." Logan's mother sneered.

"Shira," Mitchum began to speak, very possibly to tell his wife to shut up Rory thought, but she raised a staying hand and he subsided. Shira frowned at the action and glanced sharply back and forth between the two.

"I know you're upset. I get that." Rory told her directly. "I imagine you had an image in your head of these perfectly perfect European grandchildren Logan would present you through his relationship with Odette." She paused to sip and had the pleasure of seeing something in Shira's expression shift just slightly.

"Obviously that was never going to happen. Not with Odette. I'm rather sure that the prospect of a grandchild from Logan with _me_ is, in your mind, as far from ideal as it can get. That Logan and I are a couple again and that we fully intend to raise our child together, here, in the home we're making together, must irritate you to no end." She said easily, calmly, with something that was very close to amusement in her tone. "After all, I'm still just Rory Gilmore. The girl you had no problem telling, once upon a time, that she had no business imagining a future with your son."

"Rory, I know we've all had our issues in the past," Mitchum cut in. "But through your child, you are now and forevermore a part of our family. We must all put aside those old grievances. Whatever else becomes of your and Logan's relationship is no one's business but your own. We learned long ago that Logan neither needed nor would tolerate any interference from us in his personal affairs. We were, of course, happy about his relationship with Odette and that he was prepared to settle down and marry - as I told you when I ran in to the two of you last Spring. But beyond introducing the two of them, we had very little to do with that relationship. I believe you know this."

"I do know that." Rory agreed.

He nodded. "Well then, we're in agreement."

"I haven't agreed to anything." Shira responded immediately. "And you know it."

"Shira," Mitchum ground out her name. His jaw clenched and Rory reigned back the smile that threatened on her own face, at the pained, exasperated expression that covered his. "We've discussed this. Repeatedly. You need to get over whatever your issues are. This is the reality of the situation and as you've been told, many times, you get no say in it."

"I'm Logan's mother, certainly that gets me something." Shira exclaimed.

But before Mitchum could respond, Rory did. "A grandchild." She said bluntly. "Nothing more, nothing less. You're Logan's mother so in this particular situation what _you_ get is a grandchild. It's up to you what kind of relationship you choose to have with him or her."

"You don't expect me to believe you're going to allow your child to spend time with me." She cried. "After the way we treated you, you're probably dying to get back at us. And what better way, than to keep us away from our grandchild."

Rory sighed and leaned back inelegantly against the arm of the couch. She studied Shira, and Mitchum, and she realized while looking at them that this was a very real concern to them both. Mitchum was perhaps more adept at masking his worry, but Rory could see it. As often happened when she was thinking, one hand dropped to her stomach and rubbed lightly at the now rather large bump. She watched Shira's eyes follow her hand and stare for a moment. When Shira glanced up again Rory met her gaze.

"What do you know of my family history?" Rory asked seriously.

"Gilmore family history?" Shira wondered but continued right away. "Your mother was an only child, as was her father. Emily has a sister, who I believe lives in Europe somewhere. I'm afraid that's about all I know."

"That's true, all of it. Though I must admit I've only met my great-aunt Hope a handful of times. There are also numerous distant Gilmore relations but of the main family line, I am currently the end." Rory admitted and sipped again from her tea.

"But not for long." Shira concluded.

"No, not for long." Rory agreed. "But it was actually my father's family I was referring to."

"Your father's family?" Shira repeated. "I wasn't aware your father's family was a part of your life. I'm not even sure I know who your father is."

"My father is Christopher Hayden, only child of Francine and Straub Hayden. You may recall, my Grandfather Hayden passed away while I was at Yale." Rory told them and though Shira was obviously surprised, Mitchum made no reaction to her claim. She realized then that Mitchum must always have known her paternal line.

Shira's eyes became very large in her face. "You're Francine Hayden's granddaughter?"

"One of them." Rory admitted and laughed lightly at Shira's reaction. "I have a much younger half sister named Georgia, though she goes by Gigi. She lives half the year with my father in Hartford, and the rest of the year with her mother in Paris. My Grandfather was very fond of her before he died, though she was only a couple years old. My Grandmother simply adores her."

"Have you never mended that break?" Mitchum asked, showing that he did in fact know something of the decades old scandal and her apparent estrangement from the family.

"The only time I met my Grandfather Hayden, he basically told me that I was the reason my father was aimless, unfocused, and undisciplined. At the same time, my Grandmother told my mother that it would have been better for everyone involved if she'd aborted me. I was 16 years old." She said plainly, sharing the painful but unvarnished truth. "I didn't see Francine again until Grandfather's funeral. Since then, I've run in to her a number of times and though I will never have the relationship with her that I have with Grandma Emily, we get along with one another well enough now, I suppose."

"I had no idea the situation was as bad as that." Mitchum admitted. "I knew that you didn't have much to do with the family, but I didn't realize — well, I'm sorry."

Rory said nothing for several long minutes, her eyes focused on a painting across the room. Eventually she sighed and shifted her gaze back to the couple on the other couch. "I had everything I needed growing up. Mom made sure of that. She worked hard but she stubbornly refused any help from the Gilmore's, so we never had much more than just what we needed when I was young. Dad would slip in and out of our lives as he chose, but he was never reliable in those days. We knew we couldn't really count on him."

"However, I always knew I was loved." She affirmed and sipped once again. "I never doubted that both my mother and my father loved me. But I also knew there were aspects of life, and of childhood that I missed out on. Because we didn't have the money, because I didn't have my father in my life. Because until I was 16, I hardly even knew my grandparents, not any of them."

"I suppose I always knew that if I ever had a child of my own, I wanted to give them better than what I had. More. Which is sort of ironic when you think about it. That was precisely what my mother had hoped for me when she took me and left Hartford." Rory said. She smiled genially at the elder Huntzberger couple and shook her head slightly, as if to shake away the thought. "All of that is to say, no, Shira, I wouldn't keep my child away from you."

"Rory," Shira murmured.

"Logan and I are trying very hard to be what and who we each need the other to be. We are going to try just as hard to be the best parents we can be for our child. And I have to believe, the two of you will be the best grandparents you can be, to him or her." Rory concluded.

"We will, of course we will," Shira told her, her manner toward Rory unsure for the first time in the younger woman's memory.

Mitchum nodded. "I'm sure Honor has filled your ears with stories, both good and bad. But of course, we'll be devoted grandparents."

"However, I do want to make something very clear." Rory said quickly and firmly. When the pair gave her questioning looks, she continued. "Logan and I are it's parents. We are raising him or her as _we_ see fit. We are the ones who will make decisions about our child's life. We will not be indoctrinating or overwhelming them with expectations or demands for their future. They will have choices when the time comes."

"Logan and I will apparently need to chat and do some long-term planning." Mitchum commented and though Rory suspected he wasn't keen on the idea that his grandchild may not want to be involved with HPG, she could see he was willing to try to respect her wishes.

"Rory there are obligations that—" Shira began to explain and once again Rory raised a staying hand to quiet her.

"I understand the responsibilities that come along with an elite lifestyle and elevated family. I don't like many of them and I won't ever allow society to rule my life, but I've already essentially promised both my grandmothers to begin to represent our families on the high society stage." Rory explained easily. "Adding another family to the mix won't change too much, though I'll very likely enjoy industry parties far more than some of the especially stuffy events I'll be expected to attend otherwise."

Mitchum opened his mouth to say something but snapped it closed when the front door opened and Logan walked in. He was carrying a uniquely lovely bouquet of lilies and daffodils and called out Rory's name as he came through the door. It was something of a toss up over who was more surprised in that moment: Logan, or his parents.

"Mom. Dad," Logan finally said as he got over his shock at the sight of them. "What are you doing here?"

Rory ignored the polite conversation the three carried on as he set his things aside and took off his coat. She shifted on the couch, pouring more tea in her mug and stuffing a pillow behind her back to lean against.

"Ace," Logan eventually greeted her. He leaned over and set a quick kiss to her raised lips, looking at her eyes to gauge her mood. He relaxed slightly when he determined that she was in good spirits and apparently hadn't been greatly bothered by the surprise visit. He gently touched her stomach after he crossed in front of her and sat down beside her. "Doing okay today?"

"We're just fine." Rory assured him - referring not only to the baby but to the situation with his parents as well.

"Good," Logan said and turned back to his parents. "You should have called me on my cell. I made a few stops on the way home that could have waited for another time."

"Would you believe I left the office without my own cellphone?" Mitchum asked.

"No." Logan replied quickly and they all laughed.

"I simply didn't think of it, Logan." His father told him honestly.

"We just wanted to see the house, Logan," Shira said. "You've been living here for more than two months and neither of us have even been here."

Logan tilted his head and looked at her. "Then I'll give you a tour." He suggested. "But mom, you can't just show up. Rory works at home. If you want to come by, you need to call first."

"You're working from home?" She asked and Rory laughed a little at the fact that Shira had apparently already forgotten.

"I'm writing a book." Rory reminded her and Shira nodded, murmuring softly that 'now' she remembered.

"Rory's modest," Logan added. "She's writing a book series. She just signed a deal for a seven-book series with Penguin."

"Seven books?" Shira exclaimed. "My word, however will you find the time?"

At the same time, Mitchum beamed. "A seven-book series. Congratulations, Rory! Logan told me that you were hopeful and that the agent you'd hired was pitching to the _Big 5_ a few weeks ago, but he hasn't mentioned anything since."

"Thank you, Mitchum." Rory answered graciously and glanced at Shira. "I've got most of the first three books basically done already, and parts of the next two as well. The editors and I are practically killing ourselves to get through edits on what will be Book 1 before the baby is born. I'll slow down a lot after that, but I'll still be working."

"Well you are ambitious, aren't you?" Shira murmured. "I can't even imagine."

Rory just smiled.

"What kind of publishing schedule are they aiming for?" Mitchum asked.

Logan laughed. "Told you he'd ask." He teased Rory with a little nudge, and she rolled her eyes at him.

"My deadline for final copy on the first book is the first of September, with an anticipated print release in late October. The goal is to release the first three books in somewhat quick succession, roughly six months apart, then space the rest so they come out at approximately one per year." Rory explained.

"It's a smart plan." Mitchum commented. "It will make for a busy 18 months, especially when you add the baby to that."

"There's some wiggle room with the dates for number two and three but yes, getting all three print ready within the next year is going to be an adventure." Rory agreed easily.

"I'm not sure if it's a sensitive subject but have you considered hiring an au pair?" Shira ventured hesitatingly.

Both Rory and Logan laughed, and they glanced at each other. It was Logan who finally replied. "I finally managed, with a little gentle coaxing and persuasion from her grandmother and mother, to convince her to hire someone to help with the baby."

"I still want to do as much as possible with the baby myself, especially for the first stretch. But with the schedule I'll need to keep in order to stay ahead of deadlines, a nanny will likely prove a godsend." Rory admitted.

"She can even say nanny now without wrinkling her nose and making a sour face." Logan teased and Rory just shook her head but the older couple could see there was amusement twinkling in her eyes.

"I'm sure Honor has told you how much having a nanny for the children helped her when she decided to go to work when Eliza was two." Shira said, relieved that she hadn't caused an argument with her question.

Rory nodded. "She has. In great and enthusiastic detail."

"We used the same agency Honor did. We start interviewing next week." Logan admitted.

"You certainly seem to have things in hand," Mitchum noted and Logan and Rory shared a laughing glance at the comment.

"Check in with us a few weeks after the baby is born," Rory suggested with a chuckle. "I'm rather sure we'll both seem like crazed psychopaths."

The elder Huntzberger couple laughed and Mitchum asked, "Ah, yes, but will you be looking to escape the asylum?"

"I think my running days are over," Rory answered with a wide smile.

"And thank God for that." Logan added fervently and Rory's eyes narrowed on him. The smile on her face, however, remained as bright as ever.

Rory shifted in her seat and planted one hand on the arm of the couch to help her rise. Logan helped her immediately with a hand on her back and another grasping her arm. Once standing she took Logan's hand and squeezed.

"Why don't you show your parents around the house? I'll take care of those flowers and then I've got a couple things to finish up, so I'll be in my office." Rory suggested and he rose from his own seat.

"Sounds like a plan to me." Logan agreed and quickly kissed her again. He glanced at his parents and raised his eyes in question. "We can start downstairs and work our way up."

"Lovely," Shira said and she too stood, Mitchum following suit.

As Logan led his parents down the stairs, Rory continued on to the kitchen. She found Margaret there preparing vegetables for some side dish or salad for dinner.

"You handled that very well." Margaret commented.

Rory shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal, though she was rather happy with how she'd handled that. "I was going to say the same to you."

"Well," Margaret admitted and glanced toward the front of the house. They could just hear the murmur of Logan's voice from the lower level. Still, when she continued, she lowered her voice. "Shira Huntzberger isn't the first of her type I've had to work with."

"Oh, Margaret." Rory murmured softly and chuckled. She set the flowers on the counter and was about to go grab a vase from the closet when the housekeeper stopped her.

"I'll take care of those flowers as soon as I'm done here." She said simply.

Rory shook her head to argue. "I can do it. It will only take me a couple minutes."

"No, no," Margaret insisted. "You go on upstairs and finish up whatever you need to finish up for the evening. You've got at least another hour before dinner will be ready for you and Logan. Plus, I rearranged some things and moved the vases onto the top shelf so they'd be out of my way on the regular, and you shouldn't be trying to get one down from up there."

"Oh, alright." Rory conceded. "You make me feel rather useless sometimes."

Margaret smiled and offered with a light laugh. "If it will make you feel better, I'll leave all the dishes to you and Logan tonight?"

"You know that's perfectly fine. If you need to leave, you certainly don't need to hang around just to do the dishes." Rory told her.

Margaret chuckled and gestured with her head. "Go on. Would like those up in your office? Or should I put them on the table?"

"The table. They're pretty and deserve to be enjoyed tonight. I'll take them up to my office tomorrow." Rory said and crossed back toward the stairs. "Thank you, Margaret, I truly appreciate all you do around here."

And with that she headed up to the sanctuary of her office, praying fervently that Logan would not bring his parents there while on the tour.

Almost exactly an hour later Rory walked past their sitting library and toward Logan's office at the opposite side of the house from her own. His door was open and she could hear the sound of his voice. She peeked inside and was somewhat surprised to find Mitchum there with his son.

"Oh," Rory said with a little laugh. "I'm sorry to interrupt. I didn't realize you were still here."

Mitchum smiled genially. "Shira left a little while ago. She had a dinner engagement with some friends of hers. I'll be headed out shortly as well, since I've got plans of my own tonight. I'm glad you emerged from your office before I had to leave. I wanted to assure you that, in future, we'll call before coming to the house. I just wanted to make sure that Shira didn't spring a visit on you today on her own."

"It was no problem, really," Rory assured him as she crossed the room to sit on the small couch Logan had in his office. "I do appreciate your discretion though."

"Well, Shira has been rather ferociously anxious since Christmas and I wasn't entirely sure what kind of scene she would create." Mitchum said frankly.

Rory shrugged lightly. "Her concerns were valid enough."

"I suppose," he agreed. "And with anyone else but you I would have perhaps shared them."

"What concerns?" Logan asked.

Mitchum raised a brow at Rory, as if to question whether to share the details of their earlier conversation with Logan. She smiled serenely and he took that as all the permission he needed.

"You know your mother's been concerned with the situation, Logan," he began and Logan nodded slowly because, of course, he would have to be mostly dead to have missed the fact. "Apparently her concerns were based on the assumption that because of our past dealings with Rory, she wouldn't allow us to see your child."

Logan huffed out a laugh but glanced back and forth between his father and Rory. "Seriously? Mom thought _Rory_ would keep our kid from you guys? Rory?"

"Well you have to admit Logan, had they been treated by your mother the way I was in the past, most other women of society would hold a grudge and very likely would contrive to keep your parents, or your mother certainly, from their child." Rory said.

"Sure," Logan agreed easily. "But you're you."

"That doesn't explain nearly as much to most people as you seem to think it should." Rory teased and Mitchum chuckled.

"Rory explained to your mother that because of her own experience growing up and the lack she felt due to being estranged from her Gilmore grandparents and her paternal family, she wouldn't withhold our grandchild from us. She also very cleverly implied that the quality of relationship we may have with him or her is entirely up to our behaviour." Mitchum told Logan, and it honestly delighted the man to see his son's eyes light with pride for the woman he'd chosen for himself.

"And how did Mom take that?" Logan wondered and again bounced his glance between the other two occupants of the room.

Rory shrugged again. "I think it knocked the wind from her sails. She came here expecting to have to fight for some weird version of visitation rights, only to be told that there was no need to fight at all."

"She was also entirely surprised by the revelation of your link to the Hayden's." Mitchum added. "She's always looked at Francine Hayden as some kind of leading lady within society, though I've never been sure why. I'm rather surprised she didn't know you were Christopher's daughter."

"Mom didn't know?" Logan asked, shocked anew.

"Apparently not," Mitchum commented. "It's odd because the news and the scandal of Lorelai's pregnancy certainly made the rounds at the time. And for years talk would resurge from time to time. I'm not sure how she could possibly have missed it."

She shook her head at both Huntzberger men. "You'd be surprised how many people I've met within Hartford Society who have no idea that Christopher Hayden is my father. Most people seem to think mom messed around with the pool boy or something. Which, honestly, I'm sure the Hayden's were more than happy to let them think."

"You said your relationship with Francine is improved though?" Mitchum questioned.

"Dad pushed for it after Yale." Rory said. "He was never happy that she and Straub had disowned me, for all intents and purposes. He was furious when Grandfather died and he found out that though his parents had begun a very generous trust fund for Gigi when she was born, only a very small provision had been made for me. He's always thought it so hypocritical - they hated mom because she wouldn't marry dad and was perfectly happy to raise me without anyone's help, but loved Sherri despite the fact that she walked out on Dad and Gigi without any warning for an 'amazing job offer' on another continent, all because she did marry Dad when she found out she was pregnant."

"Because it is hypocritical," Logan muttered.

Mitchum shook his head. "Your parents did get married eventually though, didn't they? I remember some kind of announcement in the papers, or a party or something."

"They eloped in Paris when I was still at Yale." Rory mused. "It was a very short-lived marriage. I'm not sure either of them regrets it but I don't think either of them truly expected it to last either."

"Why?" Mitchum asked curiously. "From what I recall of the two of them, from years ago, even before you were born they were rather devoted to each other."

"They were. They are still, to a degree." Rory explained. "Honestly, I think if they'd gotten married when I was born, they would have had a perfectly happy life. By the time they finally got around to it, there was too much - I don't know - life between them, too much history. In some ways they are both simply too selfish to be with one another, in other ways, they expected far too much from each other to make it work."

"Your mother is married now though, isn't she? I thought Logan told me she'd recently remarried." Mitchum commented.

Rory shrugged and smiled slightly. "She and Luke finally got married in November. They've been together for what seems like forever and have been really good friends since I was little. For most of us it was just sort of an 'about time' kind of thing in the end."

"You sound incredibly happy for them," Mitchum said and the wry, sarcastic tone made both she and Logan laugh out loud.

"I am," Rory assured him. "I've thought of Luke as a father figure ever since I learned what a father figure was. He's been one of the most stable forces in both our lives for as long as I can remember. I'm really happy for them."

"Well, I look forward to meeting the man." Mitchum said after a moment and then blinked when Logan and Rory simply stared at him. "What?"

"You've met him." Rory answered quietly.

"I have?" He asked and Logan realized he truly had no memory of it.

"When you stormed the Vineyard house one weekend during my senior year. Rory and I were there for Valentine's Day with Lorelai and Luke." Logan eventually explained. "You made quite the first impression too."

"Oh, well," his father muttered, and the younger couple had the pleasure of seeing him squirm uncomfortably at the memory. "I'll try to do better when next we meet."

Rory nodded and Logan shrugged and smirked. There really wasn't anything more to say. Finally, Logan redirected the evening. "You've got a few more minutes before you've got to go, Dad. Why don't we go downstairs and have another drink?"

"Yes, let's." Mitchum agreed, rising and heading toward the door. Logan followed, pausing to pull Rory from her chair and walked with his arm circling her waist.

"Smooth," Rory whispered and giggled at the look he shot her.

"What exactly were talking about with my parents?" He whispered back and they both shot a look ahead of them to see how close Mitchum was as they started down the stairs together.

"What?" Rory answered quickly with a start. "Nothing."

"Uh huh." He muttered in reply. "We will be discussing that in more detail." Then Logan raised his voice. "Another Scotch, Dad?"

"Yes." Mitchum answered immediately, the crisp sound of control back in his voice but after a momentary pause he spoke again and the tone was noticeable softer. "That would be nice, thank you."

Logan chocked on a laugh at the bottom of the steps and kissed the side of Rory's head as he turned left and headed for the kitchen to get their drinks. Rory went right and retook the seat she'd occupied earlier that day.

"You know," she told Mitchum as soon as she sat down. "I'm more than slightly surprised by how accommodating you've been about our whole situation."

"I'm sorry?" Mitchum replied but the lift of his eyebrow, so like Logan's own expression of 'knowingness', told her that he knew precisely what she meant.

She shrugged once again. "I know that Logan and I having a child together, now, like this, is less than ideal. I guess I thought you'd be far more upset about everything than you have been."

"It's not ideal," he agreed after a moment. "But I learned a long time ago that when it comes to Logan, I should always expect the unexpected."

"Is that why you believed the arrangement with Odette was genuine?" Rory asked curiously. "Because it was the last thing you expected from him?"

He leaned back against the couch and stared at her with a growing smile.

"What?" She asked, slightly alarmed by his expression.

"You're just a constant surprise, Miss Gilmore." Mitchum answered and she frowned slightly at the formal use of her name. "I suppose that was part of why I believed the story I was given about he and Odette. It's also why I fully and instantly believed the true story when I heard it in December."

"Did you?" Rory asked.

"What? Believe what he told me when he announced the engagement was off?" He clarified and she nodded her response. "I was surprised. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that their entire relationship had been too easy, too smooth. Even the very best relationships have rough spots. Those two simply got along. They were perfectly content living in two cities, two countries, and seeing one another only occasionally. There were no arguments. There weren't any surprise visits or frustrations because of their separation."

He frowned for a couple minutes. "When I saw the two of you last spring, I began to wonder if there was more going on than was apparent. I wasn't sure what exactly your relationship was with Logan, but I genuinely was surprised to see the two of you together. I had no idea you were still in touch."

"It wouldn't have been particularly discreet of us if you had known." Rory said simply.

"Well, it was just another one of those things that in hindsight make me realize the signs were all there, I'd just refused to see them." He finished and glanced at Logan as he approached with their drinks.

Logan sat three drinks down and handed Mitchum his. He picked the other two back up before circling the table and handing one to Rory as he sat down beside her. Logan asked Mitchum a question about one of their newer papers and the three of them chatted easily for several minutes on the topic.

Rory was sitting at a slight angle with one leg tucked under herself. More comfortably seated than before, she still used the same pillows from earlier for extra support to her back and side. Even while they chatted, Mitchum watched as Logan relaxed into the couch beside her. Logan's hand played first with her hair, threading through it and touching the ends, then he stretched a bit further and his hand came to rest on her stomach. Rory continued speaking animatedly to them both not pausing or even sparing a glance at Logan at his touch, but after a moment her hand repositioned his a little lower on the bump and a second later a grin flashed on Logan's face.

That silent little interaction spoke volumes to Mitchum. The feelings between them were blatantly obvious, such as they had been when the pair was at Yale, yet now it was somehow different too. More comfortable, more natural. For both of them.

Logan wasn't being affectionate or gentle with her because he thought it was expected of him as her boyfriend.

Rory wasn't desperately trying to pretend as if having him touch her in front of another person was normal.

There was no doubt in Mitchum's mind that the two of them had loved one another deeply during their years at Yale, but time had brought a depth and maturity to their love that had changed it. Looking at them now, having spent a bit of time in their company for the first time since they had officially and publicly gotten back together, he was suddenly struck with the realization that they were finally ready for each other — and ready for all that being one another's partner entails. As the conversation about his most recent acquisition began to sputter, he cocked his head slightly and focused his gaze on the two of them intently.

After a moment or two, Logan became aware of his father's study and with asked with a wry smile. "What?"

"Nothing," Mitchum answered immediately and dropped his gaze to the glass in his hand for a moment. Then he lifted them and refocused.

"Rory, I said earlier that Logan and I would need to have a discussion about future long-term plans for HPG." Logan jolted at his father's words and glanced at Rory. Her brows were furrowed, and she nodded in acknowledgment of the statement before Mitchum continued. "I was wrong. While we definitely will need to have that conversation, I think it should be the three of us, and perhaps even Honor and Josh too, who have it."

For a moment there was nothing but silence. Then Rory smiled and looked at Logan, who though he'd missed the earlier conversation and comment, realized that the importance of his father's statement. Looking at Rory he released a breath and began to smile as well. By the time he turned to look at Mitchum, he too was grinning.

"I think that is a really good idea Dad," he said with a voice rich with emotion. "In fact, I think it's a truly excellent idea."

Half an hour later Rory and Logan were sitting down to eat their dinner, the flowers Logan had brought home sitting off to one side decorating the table. They talked about their day - Logan explained the cancelled meetings and told her about the errands and stops he'd made on his way home from the office. Rory shared with him what she'd accomplished on her book, the conversation she'd had with her Grandmother earlier in the day, as well as the one she'd had with her mother.

"June third," she told him. "I'm not sure they could have picked a less auspicious day for the baby shower, but I'm told that when all our calendars were put together, June third was the only day before the baby's due that we all had free."

"So, June third it is." Logan nodded. "Did they decide where yet or are they still duking it out over that?"

Rory laughed. "They eventually came to a decision when Honor suggested they should look for somewhere that offered some kind of pampering services. I'm not entirely sure what she had in mind when she suggested it, but the end result is that my baby shower is going to be the first party to be hosted at The Dragonfly Annex and Spa. Mini facials, manicures, and neck and shoulder massages will be offered to all the party guests. Gift bags with miniatures of all the signature all-natural Dragonfly products will be given to everyone, as well as some kind of a one-time-use free service certificate. Michel is in planning heaven. He's now convinced that this party will be just the thing to launch the addition and make it a rousing success for years to come."

"So essentially our baby shower has become the Annex's launch." Logan concluded.

"Yep." She replied.

"And everyone is happy with that? Even Emily?" Logan asked.

"Even Grandma." She assured him. "Mom and Michel have actually included Grandma in quite a few of their planning discussions - Michel decided early on that Grandma was a resource to be mined for the project - so she's positive the place will be perfect. Honor claims the spa services will draw and impress even the highest sticklers of society, of which I sort of assumed she meant your mother. And Mom eventually conceded that having it at the Annex allows us to easily and naturally include folks from Stars Hollow, which was her biggest argument and concern all along."

He nodded. "Stars Hollow on June third then."

"Stars Hollow on June third." Rory agreed. There was a moment of silence and they smiled at one another.

Then, "You know, I looked at the calendar today and realized it's barely more than a month until the baby is due." Logan commented.

"It is." Rory replied, her smile not dimming in the slightest.

"We are going to be parents in just over a month." He said. "And then Dad said what he said earlier, about the future of HPG."

He made the comment, though she could tell it was actually something of a question and looked at her. She laughed.

"Your mother was all concerned and convinced that I wouldn't let them see the baby." Rory explained. "I made sure she understood that I wouldn't keep the baby from her or your dad, but that the type of relationship they have will depend entirely on them. I also made clear now, that we are the parents. We will make decisions about our child's future, not them. And _we_ would not pressure our child to pursue any one career path to the exclusion of all others."

"Hence dad's comment about long-term planning for HPG." Logan concluded.

"Exactly," she replied. "I am kind of surprised, happily so, at his inclusion of Honor and Josh in that planning."

"And yourself?" Logan wondered.

But she shrugged. "It's nice but I know you wouldn't make any plans without discussing them with me first, so it truly wasn't what I was angling for. I really just wanted both he and your mother to know that we wouldn't be forcing our kid in to HPG or anything else, if it wasn't something they wanted."

"I agree with you," he said. "But it's not something we - you and I, I mean - have ever really discussed."

"I didn't think we needed to."

He cocked his head and frowned lightly. "You're not wrong, Ace. Just, I don't think we should assume we're on the same page when it comes to things like that. Lack of important communication has always been one of the big issues when it comes to you and me. I don't want that to spill over to our kids, or how we want to raise them, what we want for them."

"You're right." Rory admitted with a sigh. "I'm sorry."

"You don't need to be sorry, Ace," he told her firmly. "In this you were absolutely right."

"But in the future, we discuss." She affirmed. "I would be pissed if you made declarations about how we were going to raise our kids to my parents, or to anyone for that matter, without talking to me about it first. Making that kind of statement without any input from you, that's the kind of thing my mother did."

"She was raising you by herself," he started but she stopped him from continuing with her immediate agreement.

She nodded and kept nodding. "She was. She did. And you know I love her, Logan, but I realize now raising me alone wasn't out necessity, the way she always made it seem to everyone. She raised me alone because she denied anyone else a say - my dad, my grandparents. She wanted to do it her way and refused to allow anyone else an opinion."

"You're still mad at her." Logan said with some surprise and she winced.

"No, not really." Rory countered, winced again. "Okay maybe a little. It's the book, I guess, especially some things from the first year. It makes me realize all over again how everything started to change, and how things could have been different all along if mom had been just a little willing to share some of the control with dad, or with grandma and grandpa."

"If she had, if things had been even a little bit different, you may not be the person you are today." He pointed out.

"I know," she agreed. "I know too that little changes could have resulted in big differences in our lives. But it's hard to look back and not wish that she had done some things differently."

"I think Matt would tell you that's a pretty normal thing to feel." Logan told her gently. "But I think he'd agree that we need to discuss these kinds of things and not simply assume we're in agreement because of past behaviour."

She sighed. "I know Logan."

"Okay then," Logan said and nodded as if closing the discussion.

"But I also think you didn't need to tell your mother quite so plainly that she couldn't come here unless she calls in advance." Rory said. "It wasn't that big a deal."

"Today," he agreed. "But it's a generally accepted common courtesy to let someone know in advance if you want to visit. I don't want my mother to feel like she can just show up whenever she feels like."

She frowned and bit her lip. "You mean, the way my mother would."

"I didn't say that." Logan argued immediately. "I didn't even mean that. Your mother, even your grandmother, is a very different matter than Shira Huntzberger. Rory, even Honor insists that my mother let them know when she wants to visit them."

"But isn't that just a way of restricting access?" Rory asked. "My mother used to lose her mind when Grandma would show up with little or no notice. I can remember her ranting and raving about how it would be this tremendous interruption to our time. Yet more often than not we were just watching TV or a movie or something."

"It's more just about making sure we're not otherwise busy. Whether that's with work - writing for you or meetings or whatever for me - or something else." Logan answered.

"My mother is always going to just show up. I wish I could say differently but she's honestly just too selfish to call ahead. That's harsh, I know, but true too. It goes right along with her childish belief that everything should be about her." Rory told him.

He laughed. "I'm pretty aware that your mother is never going to change. It's part of her charm."

"I'm not so sure that's one of the charming bits." Rory muttered.

"I'm not worried about your mother showing up." Logan assured her. "I'm worried about my mother showing up. And please, for the love of God, please do not invite her to stay here."

"For a meal?" Rory teased. "That seems a little extreme."

"A meal would maybe be okay," he replied seriously. "Overnight would not be."

Now Rory laughed. "Don't worry Logan, I would never invite your mother to stay overnight with us. I may be willing to give people, even your mother, the benefit of doubt but I'm not masochistic."

"Oh, Ace," Logan murmured, and his chuckle joined Rory's laughter.

* * *

End Note: I'm going to try and get the rest of this story out in short order. From there, I'm not really sure what will come next.

Thanks for reading my story - I'd love to hear what you think!


	15. Just Keep Breathing

I am so happy to be back and so incredibly pleased by the response this story continues to receive. I can not truly express how glad I am that people actually seem to like the things I write. You can't see it but I'm knocking on wood that you will all continue to enjoy my story, and that you'll continue to let me know what you like and what you don't.

On that note - here's the next chapter.

Disclaimer: _I don't own _Gilmore Girls_ in any way. If I did, those "last four words" certainly wouldn't have been _the_ last four words. _

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 15: Just Keep Breathing**

"That woman," Emily said sourly, shaking her head. "I don't think I'll ever understand her."

Rory simply laughed. She sat at one of the big round tables in the dining room of her mother's new spa shortly after the end of her baby shower. Most of the guests had left, besides a number of Rory and Logan's society friends who were busy talking to Michel about booking full visits later in the month, a couple Stars Hollow mavens, Emily, and Rory's mother, Honor, and Odette and Rochelle. '_That woman'_ had just been waved away by Honor and was none other than Shira Huntzberger.

"Oh Grandma, she's just excited." Rory told her. Shira had gifted Rory and Logan, with a large doll house, and dolls and accessories to go with it. She was apparently banking on the baby being a girl but just in case Rory delivered a boy instead, Shira had also given them several miniature sports outfits, tiny shoes, and all kinds of little sporting equipment - all perfectly sized for a toddler or preschooler.

"She has two grandchildren already," Emily complained. "She should know the difference between things appropriate for babies and those more suited to older children."

"I doubt Shira had all that much to do with Jared and Eliza when they were babies, Grandma." Rory said. "Honor insists she's much better with them once they get a little bit older."

"And God knows, she had next to nothing to do with her own children when they were infants." Emily muttered. "Or at any age for that matter."

Rory reached over and grasped Emily's hand. "It's fine, Grandma, really."

"I just don't understand why she would have all that brought and assembled here. Now you've got to deal with having it disassembled and moved to New York. Or at least partially disassembled." Emily continued to grouse. "And she probably picked it out in New York at FAO Schwarz too. Why wouldn't she simply have them deliver it to your house and give you a nice card today?"

"Because," before Rory could respond an accented voice answered the perfectly reasonable question, as the vivacious owner of said voice dropped her thin body in to the chair on the other side of Rory. "She wouldn't appear as excited, or as enthusiastic a potential grandmother if she merely gave Rory a beautiful card. This display was, by Shira's estimation I'm sure, the easiest and most direct way she could announce her claim on the child. And short of having a tug of war over the baby with Lorelai at the hospital, how else could she prove her devotion after all?"

Emily stared at Odette incredulously. "That woman is ridiculous. I will never understand her."

Rory and Odette shared a glance and then both women burst with laughter. The end of their fake engagement had not been the end of Logan and Odette's friendship, and over the past months the women, Rochelle included, had made a concerted effort to become friends themselves. It had been surprisingly easy for all of them, and so when Rochelle and Odette had decided to come to the USA for their honeymoon, it was only natural that their holiday would include an in-person visit with Logan and Rory. Emily, Lorelai, and Honor had all been a bit disconcerted when Rory had asked them to include the two French women on the guest list, and Shira had been aghast with horror when she'd learned they would be attending. All four claimed that it was unseemly for Logan's very recent ex-fiancé to attend, but Rory insisted that since they all knew the truth of Logan and Odette's relationship, and in light of Odette's marriage to Rochelle, she saw no reason they couldn't be there.

After Emily and Lorelai had met the pair the evening before the baby shower, both of the older Gilmore women conceded that Rory was right. Lorelai had admitted to Rory in private that having now met the women, she could understand why Logan had been willing to undertake such a public subterfuge to help them. Emily had been somewhat more restrained but even she had told Rory the couple was enchanting.

Now, Emily shook her head at her granddaughter and Odette as they laughed. "I'm going to find your mother and see if she needs me to do anything."

"Thank you for everything today, Grandma," Rory managed to say through her laughter.

Odette managed to calm herself enough to clearly speak. "I just left Lorelai and Rochelle in the other salon, they are very likely still there."

"They were probably hiding from that insipid woman." Emily muttered while turning away and she glided from the room, pausing only for a moment to murmur something to Honor and Logan as they came in. Whatever she said had the siblings laughing as well and then she was gone.

Rory and Odette were still giggling when Logan kissed the top of Rory's head and collapsed into the chair Emily had just vacated. Honor took her previously abandoned seat and took up the glass of champagne that still remained. She sipped, wrinkling her nose at the warm temperature of the wine, and sighed.

"Well that's done." She announced, as if some major battle had just been waged.

"And very well done too," Odette commented with a smile. "Congratulations to you Honor for a well-planned event, though the credit must be shared with Rory's mother and grandmother."

Honor smirked, her eyes twinkling. "I'll be sure to pass on your high praise."

"No need," Odette teased, her expression brightening further when she spotted Rochelle come into the room and immediately head their direction. "I've already told Lorelai and Emily how marvelous this entire day has been."

"Absolutely," Rochelle added, having heard the tail end of Odette's comment as she arrived at the table. "I was just telling your mother that she and Michel will have a raging success of this place, once word gets around that they're willing and able to host this type of event here. Everyone I've spoken to today has simply gushed about how much they loved it."

"Sounds like things went off without a hitch." Logan commented as Rochelle settled in the chair beside Odette.

"Well," Rory murmured and he glanced sharply at her.

He raised his brows. "What?"

Rory chuckled and then all four of the women gestured in some way toward one corner of the room. He blinked.

"What the hell is that?" The words burst from him without thought and all the ladies laughed.

"That," Honor informed him after a moment. "Is the 'absolutely fabulous' gift Mother has been raving about for the past couple weeks." He stared at her and she stared back unblinking.

"It's a doll house." Rory said softly in the ensuing silence. "It's extremely generous."

"It's humongous." Logan retorted.

Rory smiled at the blatant understatement. "It really is."

"It's bigger than the entire nursery." He commented as his eyes roved over the expansive toy.

"That's pushing it." Rory argued easily, still smiling.

"It'll never fit in there." Logan continued. "And how on earth are we supposed to get the thing home?"

"Mom told me the guys who delivered and assembled it this morning left their card when she asked the same question." She assured him.

"It's a _doll house._" He commented, repeating what had already been said, and finally looked away from the thing and frowned at Rory. "What if we have a boy? I may not understand my mother's thinking, but I know she would never give that thing to us and chance that our son wouldn't have something equally as ridiculous."

The ladies all laughed again but this time it was Rory who explained. "Oh, there's a whole trunk full of sports equipment, clothing and shoes, for what seemed like every sport known to man."

"You're joking." Logan said looking now at the trunk his sister pointed toward.

"All perfectly sized for a normal preschool-aged child." Honor added.

"She's insane," Logan muttered and turned back to look at his sister and Rory. "That's the only explanation. She's lost her bloody mind."

"I guess that's what you get for being her favourite," Honor teased.

Logan glared. "The doll house she gave Eliza wasn't nearly this size."

"Must I repeat myself?" His sister wondered aloud and the others laughed. "You honestly should have expected this, Logan. Or something like this anyways. I'm not sure anyone could have anticipated that thing."

A couple minutes later, just as the women were getting their laughter under control, Logan groaned. "What?" Rory asked him.

"This must have been why Dad asked me what kind of space we have at home for storage." He grumbled and glared at his sister when she started laughing again.

"Didn't you find it sort of an odd question?" Rory asked after a heartbeat of hesitation, her voice taking on an incredulous note.

Logan shrugged and looked at her sheepishly. "I just thought he was curious." He admitted. "It was a couple days after he and mom were at the house, and I didn't show them the basement, so I thought it was an idle question."

"Oh, Logan," Odette murmured as she and Rochelle dissolved into laughter once again.

"Well, you dropped the ball there didn't you." Rory groused. "There is no such thing as idle curiosity when it comes to your parents. Even I know that."

"I was distracted." He exclaimed in defense of himself. "Someone called to tell us that they'd gotten married and I had literally just gotten off the phone with them when he came into my office."

"You didn't find it at all strange that he would randomly walk into your office and ask about our homes capacity for storage?" Rory asked.

"Of course I thought it was strange," Logan answered.

"And yet, you posed no follow up questions? You just answer the question and go on with your day?" She demanded and he realized she was yanking his chain.

He pointed at her. "You can hush. As I recall, I found you frantically looking for pages from your manuscript later that day when I got home because you couldn't remember where you left them after you got off the phone with O. And where did I find them later that night?"

"Shut up," Rory answered with a laugh. "That was at least partially because of baby brain. It is a thing Logan."

Honor chuckled. "Now I'm curious," she admitted with a glance to the other women. "Where did you find the papers?"

"In the refrigerator." Logan answered quickly and caught Rory's hand as she attempted to smack his arm. "Right beside a half-eaten candy bar and an empty coffee mug."

"Baby brain." Rory repeated and with a laugh Logan leaned over and kissed her cheek.

"Uh huh," Logan said as he leaned back in his chair. "So really though, how are we supposed to get all that stuff home?"

As one, the five of them sitting at the table glanced over at the mound of gifts Rory, and Logan, had received. It was a large pile and didn't even take in to account the doll house, the trunk of sporting goods, or the gifts they'd received from Emily, Lorelai and Luke. It was the thought of those last gifts that jolted through Rory and she reached out and grabbed Logan's arm.

"Hey, help me up," she said to him. "I want to show you what mom and grandma, and Luke, gave us." He glanced at her in a moment of hesitation that lasted only a fraction of a second, then stood and held his hands out to her. After she'd pulled herself from the seat, she took his hand and led him around the doll house. There, placed inconspicuously and yet somehow prominently in the corner, he saw them.

The wooden cradle looked like an antique, the design and style of it something you'd expect to see in movies from a hundred years prior. The chair seemed to match but based on it's flat base and gliding mechanism was something much newer. The wood on both gleamed in shades on burnished bronze and dark gold. Rory released his hand and pushed him into the seat. Under him the chair glided into silent motion, forward and back. Logan ran his finger along the wood of the arm and was unsurprised to find it satiny smooth. He reached over and touched the cradle. Like the chair is was smooth to the touch and at the pressure of his hand it rocked, just a little, from side to side. He glanced down and realized the base of the cradle was delicately curved to allow just that slight soothing motion.

"These are gorgeous, Ace," he murmured while he continued looking at the fine carving and tool work in the wood of the head and foot boards of the cradle, and along it's legs. Twisting a bit in his seat, he found similarly delicate designs tooled into the back of the chair. "Where did they find these? They're like works of art."

"Oh," he heard muttered nearby and looked up to find Luke had appeared just behind Rory. The man seemed a little flustered by Logan's words and almost seemed to be blushing. Logan watched as Rory glanced back and beamed. Then she turned and wrapped her arms around her stepfather, hugging him tightly.

A minute later she pulled back and turned again to look at Logan. "The cradle was Grandma's. She used it for mom when she was a baby, just as her own mother used it for her. Grandma told me that mom even used it when she first brought me home from the hospital, but it was left behind when mom moved to Stars Hollow." She reached over and ran her hand along down the side of it.

"I guess Mom asked Grandma about it at Christmas after I headed back to Hartford. She thought I might like to use it. And Luke offered to refinish it when Grandma mentioned that it badly needed it." Rory explained. "Then after seeing the cradle, he decided to build the glider to match it. He's apparently been working on them in his spare time since just after the New Year."

Logan smiled and took hold of the hand she held out to him. He looked at Luke. "Thank you, Luke. They're wonderful. Something old and something new, and still a matched set."

"I told Grandma and Mom when they showed me earlier that they'll be wonderful pieces we could eventually hand down to our own child someday." Rory added with colour staining her cheeks. She glanced back and forth between Logan and Luke. "I really love them Luke. They're amazing. I can't believe you did this for us."

"It was nothing really," Luke told them as he rubbed the back of his neck. "You know I enjoy working with wood."

"I know, and you're wonderful at it." Rory said, smiling at how uncomfortable the man was. She looked at Logan. "I was thinking we could put these in our bedroom. In the corner near the fireplace, I think.:

His smile softened and his eyes held that gleam she knew was for her alone, when Logan answered. "I think that's the perfect place for them, Ace." And he pulled her to his side, wrapping his arm behind her back to hold her to him, and pressing his lips to her temple.

A comfortable silence descended on the trio for a minute until Luke shuffled slightly and cleared his throat. When he spoke, he gestured toward the chair and cradle, and then to the rest of the gifts around the room.

"Well, I just came by to see if you wanted any help getting things loaded up to take back to New York," Luke informed them in his typically gruff tone. "But by the looks of this room, you're going to need a moving truck to get this haul home."

"Yeah, we probably will." Logan admitted while Rory chuckled, both of them looking around the room too.

"Thank you, Luke," Rory said. "But you're right about needing more than just a hand loading stuff up. Grandma and Honor apparently anticipated that and have already arranged for a moving company to come first thing Monday morning to load things up, bring them to New York for us, and haul them into the house for us."

Luke was nodding when they heard Rory's name being called. Knowing immediately who the owner of that voice was, Luke's eyes widened, and he muttered a quiet "I'm outta here," before making a quick escape.

"Your mother's French man has two therapists who do pre- and post-natal massage and they're both knowledgeable about other treatments that would really help pregnant and postpartum moms." Paris announce brusquely as she came to Rory's side. She nodded at Logan in greeting and he had to suppress a smile. "After that gaggle of idiots were done booking more idle frivolity into their days, I spoke with him about setting up services for my surrogates. We could work it into the surrogacy contracts as part of their routine care and everyone wins."

"That sounds like a very nice idea Paris, but I imagine something like that will need to be discussed more fully with my mother." Rory commented.

"Yes, we've scheduled a meeting first thing Monday morning." Her friend told her and glanced at her watch. "I was going to head back to the city tonight but since I'd just be turning around to come back again in 24 hours, I'm just going to stay in Hartford. Do you want to have dinner tonight? I'm sure we could still get reservations somewhere."

"Oh, uh," Rory hesitated, then sighed. "We're actually having dinner at the house in Hartford tonight. Berta came up with Grandma so we're doing a Friday Night Dinner kind of thing since Logan and I aren't planning on leaving until tomorrow."

Paris frowned. "I see."

"We figured it might be a while before we're all here again. Grandma thought it would be a nice way to sort of include Grandpa, at least the memory of him, in our celebration of the baby." Rory explained apologetically.

"I understand, Rory, and she's right." She said lightly. "Richard would have loved to see all this, especially how happy you are."

Logan sighed and found himself, quite unexpectedly, making an offer to one of Rory's best friends. "I'm sure you could join us for dinner Paris. Berta seems to make more than enough to stretch any meal to feed one more body."

"That's alright," Paris commented. "I do appreciate the offer Logan, but I think I'll pass this time. It seems appropriate somehow that it should just be family tonight."

"Thank you, Paris." Rory murmured. "Logan's right about Berta's food though, so if you change your mind you are more than welcome."

Rory stepped away from Logan and the girls embraced quickly. "Are you headed back to Hartford now then?" Rory asked as she released her friend.

"I suppose so." Paris told her. "I may stop in to see my mother. Last I heard she was in Connecticut and had a suite at the Delamar. If she finds out I was here and didn't check in with her, I'll never hear the end of it."

"Have fun with that." Rory answered meaningfully and Paris shook her head. "Maybe we can have lunch tomorrow before Logan and I head back?"

"Call me in the morning but I think that should work for me." Paris replied and looked at Logan. She sighed. "I guess I'll be seeing you again."

"I guess so." Logan answered diplomatically.

Paris shook her head. "Goodbye, Rory. Logan."

"Bye, Paris." Logan said.

"I'll call you tomorrow, Paris. See you later." Rory said as well but Paris had already turned and was stalking across the room, though she'd obviously heard both of them and raised her hand in a sort of backward wave over her shoulder. Once she'd left the room, Rory and Logan glanced at each other and laughed.

"She certainly brings a little something special to the party." Logan eventually commented.

"The question is whether that's something good or something bad," Rory replied.

Logan chuckled and once again slipped his arm around her back, this time leading her back towards the table and their seats. "You said it, Ace, not me."

As they sat back down at the table, Lorelai rushed toward them and announced. "She's terrifying Rory. Straight up terrifying." And though there was little context to the remark, there was no doubt in anyone's mind precisely who Rory's mother was referring to.

"Someone better be dead." The words were grumbled into the phone as the recipient of the call focused on the bedside clock and saw it was not quite four in the morning. "And it better be bloody."

"You must be a horrible doctor." Logan replied and the sound of his voice woke Paris up faster than any jolt of caffeine could have.

"What's wrong?" She asked immediately. "Is Rory okay?"

Those two quick questions, five simple words, impressed upon Logan exactly why Paris was Rory's best friend. He'd questioned whether calling Paris was the right thing to do but that instantaneous focusing of her sharp mind told him he hadn't made a mistake.

"She's in labour." He answered. "Or at least she's sure she is and if there was one thing that Honor taught me when she was carrying her two, it was that you don't argue with the one who's pregnant."

"Is she having contractions?" Paris asked directly.

Logan nodded, then realized Paris obviously couldn't see him and answered. "Yeah. For the past few hours."

"Are you timing them?" She questioned him but knowing Rory, she assumed they were and continued with another question. "How far apart are they?"

"They were between 10 and 15 minutes apart for the first couple hours. About an hour ago the gaps started shrinking. She's down to about 5 minutes between contractions now." Logan told her.

"Okay and what about pain?" Paris asked. "If she had to rate what she was feeling during the contractions on a scale of one to ten, ten being extreme pain, what would she say?"

"Just a second," he told her and then she could hear him talking quietly to Rory in the background. She could hear Rory's voice - quick, a little breathless, and then Logan was back on the line. "She said maybe a five. She also said to tell you that since she has no frame of reference, asking her to rate her pain is useless and a deplorable waste of time."

"I see her mental faculties haven't been compromised," she responded dryly.

"Neither has her vocabulary." Logan snapped back. "She's freaking out Paris."

Paris sighed and glanced at the clock again. "Are you in Stars Hollow or did you stay in Hartford?"

"Hartford." Logan replied immediately. "Emily is giving us the house."

"What?" Paris asked then quickly continued. "Nevermind. I'll be there in half an hour. I'll come and check, just in case. Just try to stay calm, try to keep her calm, and keep timing the contractions."

"Okay," Logan responded, and she heard him sigh. He could tell her that Rory was freaking out all he wanted, but that sigh told her that Rory wasn't the only one. "Thanks, Paris."

Twenty-five minutes later, Paris knocked gently on the partially open bedroom door and pushed it open wider to enter. Logan looked over from where he stood hovering in front of another door, that one fully closed. Seeing Paris, he knocked lightly on the door and leaned his head against the wood panel.

"Ace," he said in a low voice. "Paris is here. You okay in there?"

Paris had crossed the room and was close enough to hear the response when it came. "She's here?"

"I'm right here, Rory." Paris replied announcing her arrival. She put her hand on Logan's shoulder for just a moment. "How are you doing?"

Through the door Logan and Paris could hear some shuffling and they both took a step back. A few seconds later the door opened slowly and Paris smiled gently at her best friend. Though it was apparent Rory had been crying in the bathroom, neither she nor Logan mentioned the tear tracks on her face. Paris reached for her arm and slowly led her toward one of the chairs arranged in one corner of the room.

"Why don't we sit down over here," she told Rory. "I'm going to check your vitals and we'll see what we see." Rory nodded and docilely allowed Paris to lead her around. Paris noted that she walked delicately, slowly, as if the movement caused her some pain. Once Rory was settled in the chair, she immediately sat on the footstool and took Rory's hand.

"Are you still having contractions?" Paris asked and Rory nodded. "Have you still been timing them?"

"I was until she went into the bathroom about ten minutes ago." Logan commented from behind her. She glanced over her shoulder and discovered him sitting on the foot of the bed beside the medical kit she'd placed there as she'd crossed the room to the bathroom. She raised her eyebrows at him. "They were still at about 5 minutes apart."

"Alright, and did you have any more while you were in the bathroom Rory?" Paris asked turning back to focus on her friend again.

Rory nodded again. "Two." She answered. "One just before you got here."

"Okay," she murmured and looked over at Logan again. "Why don't you go make Rory a cup of tea, Logan, something soothing like Camomile or Jasmine. When it's ready you can bring it back up here. A glass of cool water as well."

"I can do that," Logan said. He focused on Rory. "You'll be okay?"

"Yeah, I won't be alone. Paris will be with me." She said. "I'm pretty sure there's some of that Jasmine and Mint tea I like in the kitchen."

"Got it." He replied and pushed up from the bed. "Do want a coffee or something Paris?"

"I would love a cup of coffee if you can handle it." Paris answered and sent a quick smile his direction. She heard him cross to the door and pull it gently closed behind him.

Rory suddenly grasped Paris's wrist and squeezed. "I can't do this Paris."

"Can't do what?" Paris asked in an even tone. "Cause if it's 'break Paris's wrist' I'm pretty sure you can."

"What?" Rory said confused then looked down at her own hands and realized what the other woman meant and released her hold. "Sorry. No, I mean have this baby. I can't do this." She said again, this time with an accompanying gesture toward her stomach.

"At this point you really don't have much choice," Paris told her. "And you can do it, Rory. If I can do it - twice - you certainly can."

"But you're a doctor. You knew what to expect. You'd seen other people deliver babies. You'd helped other people deliver their baby's." Rory whined, and yes it was a whine. "Until eight months ago I didn't even want kids. I'm not sure I even like kids."

Paris didn't laugh, though it was difficult, Rory wasn't the first fear-struck pregnant woman she'd had to deal with after all. "Of course you like kids Rory. You enjoy spending time with mine, and you're always talking about Lane's boys."

"Yeah but I don't have to actually take care of them. I play with them for a while, or talk to them for a bit, and then I give them back to you guys. I'm fun 'Aunt Rory,' there's no pressure in that." Rory ranted. "I can't give my own kid away, can't hand him or her off to someone else to deal with. And I don't know what to do when it's crying, or it won't sleep, or—"

"Rory, stop." Paris said briskly. She took firm hold of both of Rory's hands and rubbed. "Stop. You're just nervous. That's okay. It's perfectly normal."

Rory panted lightly. "I don't know what to do with a newborn Paris."

"You'll figure it out." Paris told her. "The first few weeks after the baby comes will be a steep learning curve for both you and Logan. You'll make mistakes, and that's okay too, but you'll figure it all out as you go."

"What if I don't?" She asked and winced, her face taking on an expression of pain. "What if I can't?"

"You will." Paris glared fiercely but she glanced briefly at her watch to note the time. Rory had pulled their joined hands to her stomach and she could feel the contraction tightening her entire abdomen. "How's your pain level?"

Rory took two deep breaths. "About the same. I don't know. I've never felt anything like it."

"I know," Paris murmured and when she felt the muscles under her hand begin to relax, she glanced again at her watch. "Still less than twenty seconds long."

"Is that good?" Rory asked staring very directly at her.

"When you're in active labour they'll last longer." Paris told her simply and adjust her hold so she could feel Rory's heartbeat under her fingers. "Have they become more intense through the night?"

Rory frowned and thought about it for a minute. "Only at first, right after they started. They've just been constant since."

Paris nodded and counted the beats on her fingers. A couple minutes later she released Rory's hand and shifted on the footstool. Then she laid her hands against Rory's stomach again, gently prodding at the baby within and nodding to herself. Finally, she leaned back slightly and met Rory's gaze.

"I don't think you're in active labour." Rory opened her mouth to speak but Paris raised her hand to stop her. "I'll monitor you for a little while to be sure but based on what you and Logan have told me, and what I've observed so far, I'm pretty sure you've still got a long way to go. You are having contractions but they're what we call Braxton Hicks."

"Dr. Britemore mentioned those." Rory said.

"Yes, I'm sure she did." Paris told her. "Not all women have them. Not all women feel them the way you are. But they are one of the ways your body prepares for actual labour."

"So, then I'm not in labour?" She asked and Paris smiled at the incredulous tone.

Paris patted her hand where it rested on the apex of her stomach. "I really don't think so."

The two friends sat together in silence. Rory rested back against the chair and Paris quietly kept track of another contraction as it came and went. Not long after Logan pushed the door open and slipped back into the room. He had a small tray with three mugs and a bottle of water balanced on one hand and crossed directly to them. Once he'd carefully dropped the tray on the tiny table beside the chair, he hunkered down and took Rory's hand.

"How's it going?" He asked quietly, searching her gaze when she opened her eyes.

She smiled weakly. "Paris says I'm not actually in labour. These have just been those Braxton Hicks contractions that Dr. Britemore has asked about the last couple times we've been in."

"You seem less stressed now," Logan commented and Paris snorted, so he decided to tease the pair of them. "She didn't slip you a valium or something, did she? Cause I'm not so sure those are safe when you're pregnant."

"I'm tired." Rory answered simply, though it wasn't really an answer.

"Why don't you drink a little bit of that tea and then we'll get you to bed." Paris suggested. "Even if the contractions continue we should be able to find a comfortable enough position for you to try and get some sleep. Your body needs it and now that you're not stressing out about being in labour, you may actually be able to get some."

So that's what they did. The three of them sat together drinking tea and coffee at quarter to five in the morning. When Rory had managed just more than half her mug, Logan helped her from the chair and walked to the bed with her. They got her settled in with pillows supporting her back and stomach, and almost before they tucked the blankets in around her, she'd fallen asleep.

Logan grabbed up the tray and cups, while Paris retrieved her bag and they headed silently out to the hall. Once out in the hall Logan paused and took a few deep breaths. She watched him clench his jaw and swallow, twice.

"She's just fine, Logan." Paris told him. "And you did just what you should have. You kept her as calm as you could. You sat with her, kept her company, and when she got scared you called for help." She didn't touch him again, but he was somewhat surprised to take some comfort from what she said.

"That's what it was, wasn't it?" He asked. "She was scared."

"Yeah," she replied with a nod.

"I wasn't around when Honor had Jared, her oldest," Logan murmured and they started toward the stairs. "I managed to make it to the hospital before Eliza was born but Honor was already in the delivery suite and I didn't see her until after. She was worried she'd end up like our mother but she never told me about being afraid of labour itself, nor of actually caring for the baby after. Is that normal?"

Paris didn't immediately answer as they descended the staircase. She put her bag down on a nearby chair then followed Logan towards the kitchen. Finally, she answered. "Fear is normal, Logan, but have you been with Rory on her birthday when her mom calls?"

"Of course," Logan replied with a frown.

"You've listened to the story?" Paris asked.

He shook his head. "Only Rory's side of the conversation."

"Well I have heard it," Paris told him. "It's an overdramatized story typical of Lorelai but it paints a relatively traumatizing picture of delivery. And this is something Rory has heard every single year since she was little. I'm sure it's largely responsible for Rory's never having really thought about having kids of her own."

"God," Logan muttered. "Just when you think you know the depth and breadth of all the ways Lorelai messed with her head growing up, you learn something new."

"Oh, I don't know, the story worked as pretty good birth control when we were teens, and at college. Rory was so mortally afraid of getting pregnant and repeating Lorelai's mistakes she didn't even have sex until the end of freshman year at Yale." Paris argued. "Granted I certainly wouldn't tell my daughter the same kind of story. But Rory and Lorelai were always different."

"Trust me, I know." He said with feeling and then sighed again. "She'll get through this though, she's too stubborn not to."

Paris nodded. "She'll absolutely get through it. And then she'll put the rest of us moms to shame by being the best mother the world has seen." As she'd expected, a grin burst across his face.

"She's going to be amazing." He confirmed and she couldn't help but smile in return. Logan still wasn't her favourite person in the world and there were still moments she thought Rory was crazy for getting tangled up with him again, but she couldn't deny how happy they made each other. For Rory's sake, Paris hoped they always would.

"Get some sleep Logan." She told him, her tone returning to it's normal briskness. "You'll have plenty of sleepless nights ahead of you. My advice: catch some sleep while you can."

Logan took a deep breath and nodded his agreement. "Thank you for coming Paris."

"No problem," she told him. "Tell Rory not to worry about lunch tomorrow. And let her sleep as long as she can."

"I will, thanks," he said again and walked with her to the front door. They said goodbye and he locked the door behind her as she left. He watched out the window as she climbed into her car, started it, and looped around the driveway and drove away. Then he went back up the stairs and returned to the bedroom and Rory. He was happy to see she was still sleeping peacefully. He used the bathroom quickly, then climbed in the bed opposite Rory and relaxed into the pillow top. His hand reached out until it came in contact with her stomach. He spread his hand wide over the surface of her belly and he closed his eyes. A few deep, slow breaths later and he was on his way to dreamland.

A few days later, Rory walked out of a meeting with her publisher and agent and spotted her car and driver a little way down the street. Her phone rang as she walked toward it and Rory waved at the driver with one hand, while fishing the cell phone from her bag with the other.

"Hello," she said into the device as she approached the door, now held open by her driver, Anthony. She smiled at him and mouthed the words "thank you" as she maneuvered her way into the back seat.

"Hey, kiddo." Her father's voice carried over the line and she smiled. Once settled into her seat, her free hand began rubbing circles on her stomach. The motion was soothing and she'd discovered over the past several days that it helped ease the ache in her stomach muscles that had never fully gone away after the weekend.

"Hi Dad," Rory finally responded to his greeting. "I assume you're back?"

"With my Parisian Princess and everything." He told her wryly. "Your sister says 'hi' by the way. How are you doing?"

"You can say 'hi' right back to Gigi. And I'm okay," she answered with a chuckle that turned into a bit of a wince when sharp pain shot through her.

"Good. Logan told me that you've been having some contractions the past few days, so I was worried about you." Chris admitted.

Rory laughed lightly and then breathed carefully as another pain, different than the first, began to bloom in her abdomen. "When were you talking to Logan?"

"Just a few minutes ago." He told her. "I called the house and he was there. Said he decided to work from home this afternoon, only to discover you were at a meeting with your agent."

"Uh huh," Rory replied carefully as all the muscles in her stomach locked down. She bit her lip. "I didn't realize he would be at home this afternoon. I was going to do a bit of shopping but maybe I'll just head home."

"Well I wanted to let you know that your sister and I were home, and to remind you that we are going to be coming to the city this weekend." Chris said cheerfully and Rory was thankful that he was happy to do the talking. She continued to breath, focusing on pulling air in and pushing it out of her lungs and relaxing slightly when the pain subsided. "I promised her a weekend in the city after she was home when I visited at Easter, and of course she's reminded me about it every time we've talked since then. I've got a suite booked at The Carlyle but I hope it'll be okay for us to come by for a visit? Maybe we can all get lunch, or dinner one night?"

"Sure Dad. We don't have any plans this weekend. Hold on a sec," she told him and then leaned forward, pulling the phone away from her mouth. "Anthony can you please take me home?"

"Of course Miss, is everything okay?" He asked. He'd noticed her wince and careful movements in the rearview mirror.

"I'm sure it's fine," she assured him, but her eyes met his in the mirror and he saw the worry in them. She brought the phone back to her face. "Did you mention it to Logan, Dad?"

"I did," Chris replied right away. "He said the same thing as you, more or less. Told me he'd talk to you to see when the best time would be. I figure I'll take your sister to a show or two as well, maybe a museum, but we'll need to look at what's showing right now before we decide. Think you and Logan might be interested in coming with us? I imagine Gigi will enjoy the shows and the museum more if she's got you to hang out with and talk to."

Rory releases a little breathless laugh before answering. "I think we'll just have to see how things go Dad. I'm not sure what I'll be up for beyond eating. Last weekend took a lot out of me and like Logan told you, I've been having contractions all week which is more than a little tiring too."

"Right, of course." He said and when he continued a note of concern had entered his voice. "But you're doing okay, right? You're feeling alright and everything?"

"I'm feeling really pregnant, is all. And tired." She promised. "And also tired of being pregnant."

Chris laughed and relaxed. "I think those are all pretty normal things to be feeling at this point."

"Well that's what everyone keeps telling me, so it must be true. Still, I may not be up for going out this weekend. I want to say 'yes, we'll go,' but I just don't know." Rory told him apologetically. She pulled the phone from her ear to see how long they'd been talking, then glanced around to assess the traffic, idly wondering how much time it would take to get back to house.

"That's alright, kid," he responded easily. "There will be plenty other opportunities for her to spend time with you."

"So, is she really happy with the move back here?" Rory asked him curiously. "I mean, you and Sherri have been splitting time and custody pretty much right down the middle for the past few years. How does Gigi feel about coming back to the states for high school and essentially just spending holidays with her mom?"

"Believe it or not, coming back was actually Gigi's idea." Chris explained. "The school system is set-up different there and it's always been something of a struggle for her going back and forth between her school in Paris and here in Hartford. It's one of the reasons why we've always timed her moves for the end of semesters, or sessions as they're called in Paris. Gigi says she'd rather do the rest of her schooling all within one system so that she's better placed to get into college or university. Neither Sherri or I could really argue with the logic so we told her she could pick her home base for the next four years. She chose the States and me."

"Well that's great Dad. I know you told me she was coming back for school and to live with you, but I didn't know all that. I'm glad she'll be back though. I don't think I've seen her since a year or so before Grandpa died." She said. "She may not have even been eleven yet."

"You'll hardly recognize her then," he replied laughingly. "She's a very mature looking fourteen now and appears very European too. Which I think makes her seem even more mature."

Rory chuckled. "I look forward to being surprised by this entirely new person she's become then."

"Good."

"I'm headed home now. Why don't I give you a call later, after I have a chance to talk to Logan about the weekend. We can make plans for dinner, or lunch, or whatever, and then you and Gigi can plan the rest of your grand adventure." Rory suggested and started to rub circles on her stomach again as she felt the muscles begin to tighten once more.

"Deal." Chris agreed. "Talk to you in a while, kid. I'm looking forward to seeing you too."

"Me too. Bye, Dad." She said and disconnected the phone as she gasped. Pain again bloomed through her abdomen, stronger than during the previous days, and she closed her eyes to focus simply on breathing. Rory remembered the advice Dr. Britemore had given her on Monday to distract herself from the pain, so she counted during each breath and tried to keep each inhalation and following exhale the same length. Before too many breaths had passed, the pain faded, and Rory opened her eyes.

"Perhaps I should call Mr. Huntzberger, Miss Gilmore." Anthony said easily from the front seat a few minutes later when another contraction came over her. His eyes flicked to her periodically in the mirror as he drove and being a father of three himself, he recognized the signs of a woman in labour.

"I'm not sure what good would come from calling him," Rory gasped out through the pain.

"How long have you been having contractions?" He asked politely.

There was a lengthy pause before she answered, she'd been counting again. "Days," she finally said as the wave receded. "But these are different. They feel different. They hurt more."

"You have a couple minutes now." He told her. "Call Mr. Huntzberger."

She met his eyes in the mirror. "You think I'm in labour?"

"I have three children, Miss Gilmore," he confided as if that answered her question. "If you were my wife, I'd want you to call."

"Okay," she murmured and swallowed the lump that had suddenly formed in her throat. She picked the phone up from the seat beside her where she'd dropped it. Within seconds the call was connecting and they listened to it ringing.

"Hi there Ace," Logan answered cheerfully. "You headed home? Have you eaten lunch yet?"

"Logan," was all she said. It was all he needed to hear to know something was up.

"What's wrong?" He demanded.

She bit her lip and glanced again at Anthony. "I think I'm in labour."

"Actual labour?"

"How am I supposed to know Logan," she snapped. "But after my meeting when I got in the car, they changed. These contractions feel entirely different than what's been happening the past few days."

"Okay, okay," he immediately soothed. "Where are you?"

"Headed toward home," Rory said and looked around to determine their location more precisely. "We just crossed Broadway on Amsterdam."

"So you should be here in about ten minutes or so. Do you have any idea how far apart your contractions are?" Logan questioned gently.

And since the phone was on speaker, Anthony answered the question for her. "She's had three contractions while we've been in the car, sir, and traffic hasn't been too bad so I'd say they're coming every five minutes, maybe less."

"And you're sure they're different from what you've been having?" He asked.

"I'm the one having them, and I already said they were." Rory responded sharply.

"Well what are you feeling, Ace? Tell me." He told her.

"Before, the last couple days I mean, it was like a fist forming and squeezing tight, then gradually releasing." She paused to take a couple breaths. "This is like a ball of – I don't even know how to describe it, except to say _pain_ forming low in my gut and building and hardening, and pushing outward until its radiating down into my legs, up my back, and even into my arms. And it just builds and builds until, all of a sudden, it just drains away like water out of a sink."

He was quiet for a minute. "And what's it rate on that pain scale Paris suggested the other night?"

"I don't know how to answer that." Rory cried and indeed she was starting to cry because the heat and pressure was back. She pressed her free hand into her stomach, low on her abdomen, and moaned low in her throat.

"Sir, we're making good time but I do suggest you meet us outside the house and I'll drive the two of you directly to the hospital." The driver suggested at her sound of pain and the muttered 'oh, Ace' that came from his other employer.

"Yes, I think you're right." Logan agreed and the sounds of rapid movement came over the line. "I'm right here, Ace, and you're doing just fine. Keep breathing sweetheart, in and out." At the house, Logan ran up the stairs while continuing to murmur words of comfort. He swung through the bathroom and into their closet, where Rory's hospital bag sat ready to go. He grabbed a jacket for himself and scooped up the bag before going into the bedroom and snagging both their phone chargers from beside their bed. Then he was headed back out the door and descending the stairs quickly.

"They hurt, Logan," Rory finally said, panting lightly. "They're definitely stronger than before. The others barely rate at all compared to this."

"Okay, then we're going to do just what Anthony suggested and you guys will just pick me up from the house and we'll head straight to the hospital." Logan told her calmly. "I've got your bag already, and I grabbed both our phone chargers too. You and I are gonna keep talking right until I climb in the car with you, then I'll call Dr. Britemore and let her know we're headed to the hospital."

Rory sniffled. "I love you."

"I love you too, Ace," he said with a smile. "You're gonna do great."

"We're turning on to 88th now, sir, we'll be just a couple minutes more." Anthony updated them as he made the right hand turn one street passed their own, so he could loop around back to 87th and their brownstone.

"I'll be outside, ready and waiting for you." Logan assured. He reached the main floor and briefly set the bag down so he could tuck the phone chargers into one of the outside pockets. Then he plucked it up again and headed for the front door. He punched in the code to arm the alarm, pulled open the door and locked it as he pulled it closed behind him. Then he went easily down the stair to street level and waited at the curb. The whole time he chatted easily to Rory about inconsequential things and random thoughts or observations from his day. When he spotted the car come around the corner a minute later from Central Park West, he stepped out between two cars parked on the street and watched it approach.

As the town car eased into a stop in front of him, he grabbed the handle of the back door and pulled it open. He climbed into the backseat beside Rory and immediately disconnected their call. After dropping the bag on to the floor by his feet, he twisted in his seat and took one of her hand with his. His other hand reached out and cupped her cheek.

"You're doing great, babe," he told her. "Even breaths. In. Out." Logan glanced briefly at Anthony with a smile of thanks, but the driver was already moving them down the street, heading back over to Amsterdam Avenue and on the way to the hospital. "That's good, that's right. There you go, Ace."

Rory grabbed his wrist and squeezed as the pain began to subside. "Jesus, I want the drugs, Logan. I really want the drugs."

He chuckled at her enthusiastic hope and leaned forward to lay a thorough kiss to her lips. Once they were both breathless, he pulled back. "I better call the doctor."

"Yeah," she replied then looked at the driver. "Thank you, Anthony. Just in case I forget to say it later. Thank you."

"No problem, Miss Gilmore. And Mr. Huntzberger is right. You're doing wonderfully."

* * *

End Note: Just keep breathing. Because sometimes, it's really all you can do.

Till next time... happy reading, stay safe, and stay healthy!


	16. The Time is Now

Life is crazy! I'm not even talking about just my life, I mean life in general is crazy. It's been nearly a year since I first started publishing this story and the entire world around us, life, has changed so - so - so much. Which tells me that maybe we need a few more stories, like _**Ever Changing Life**_, to use as a momentary escape hatch. If that's what you need, I'm happy to be back with this new chapter of the tale. Unfortunately, this is that last chapter before the Epilogue chapter, so the escapism in the _**Ever Changing Life**_ world will only go so much further... for now.

Now, however, it is the time we've ALL been waiting for.

Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the characters or the original storyline of _Gilmore Girls_, or _Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life_. I claim only the expanded characterization and plot development I've employed for the purposes of this story.

**Warning:** mature language. Not a lot. Honestly just one instance but still, just so you know.

* * *

**Chapter 16: The Time Is Now**

Logan sat quietly in the near dark listening to the low tick-tick-tick of the clock. In the bed beside him Rory slept peacefully. He could see the curve of her cheek through the dim light, the dark smudges of exhaustion still evident under her eyes. Looking at her, he didn't think he'd ever loved her more than he did in that moment. She'd been amazing, as he'd always known she was, but the strength she'd portrayed through the day still had the power to bring tears to his eyes. Even as all her carefully thought out birth plans crumbled, she'd remained stalwart and indomitable. While she moaned and cried through her pain, she never cursed him or Lorelai, or anyone or anything else. And when even he worried that it would all be too much for her - because _surely_ she had been pushed beyond the limits of what the human body could handle - she hadn't given up. She hadn't given in to desperation or weakness. Or fear.

They had a son.

No one had truly thought their child, their first child, would be a boy. Everyone who had money on the sex, had put that money on the baby being born a girl. Even he and Rory had only thought of and discussed possible girl names. "Gilmore's have girls." She'd said it more than once, though to make her laugh he'd pointed out the fact that obviously they must have males too since her grandfather was an only child. But even he'd mentioned once or twice that girls usually came first in Huntzberger families.

When they'd arrived at _New York Presbyterian Hospital_ the afternoon before it was to learn that Rory was definitely in labour. But when she was first examined, they determined she was only 3cm dilated and thus it was still early in the process. They got settled in to one of the newer birthing suites and Logan made calls to Lorelai, Emily, Christopher, Mitchum and Honor. Everything the doctor and the nurses told them, as well as their own research beforehand, suggested that they were in for a long haul.

Except forty minutes later when the doctor came around to check on Rory ahead of the anesthesiologist, she'd flown through the paces and had already been at 8cm. At that point it looked like the baby would arrive before any of it's anxious extended family. That had been the beginning of the most difficult 19 hours of his life - not that his part of the deal had been hard. But seeing Rory in pain, knowing there was nothing he could do but hold her hand and talk to her while she writhed in it, that had been devastating to him. He'd never in his life felt so helpless.

Rory had simply soldiered on. She'd focused on her breath. She'd sung along to music Lorelai had eventually arrived with, courtesy of Lane. She'd chewed ice chips and occasionally had shot them at Logan or her mother. She'd remained as upbeat and optimistic as a labouring woman possibly could - or so the nurses had assured them. She'd never once complained.

And now they had a son. The boy had light hair. Not blond like Logan's but a light brown that everyone who'd seen him so far believed would eventually darken. His eyes were blue, similar to Rory's but the colour was a deeper shade. He had ten adorable little fingers and ten cute little toes. From the top of his head to the tip of his toes, every inch of him was simply perfect. When he slept, as he currently was, all nestled in Logan's arms, his mouth formed a little 'O' through puckered lips.

In the 6 hours since he'd been born, Logan had lost count of the number of kisses he'd laid to the child's head and cheeks. Love for the baby, his son, had burst to life fully formed the moment the doctor had laid him across Rory's chest. In those first moments of his son's life, Logan had cried unashamedly for the blessing and the gift Rory had given him. A family all his own: to love, to cherish, to protect and defend, every day for the rest of his life.

He'd never loved her more. Never been so sure that she was the woman he wanted to be with for the rest of his days. There was no one else he wanted to share the joys of the future with. No one else he'd rather have standing at his side through the storms of life. He just wanted her. And their child. Their son. If they never had another child, Logan could be content with the knowledge that his heart was full with Rory and this baby.

He leaned down again and gently pressing his lips near the baby's hairline, closed his eyes and breathed him in.

"We need to give him a name," Rory whispered from the bed. When he opened his eyes he found her watching him with a soft smile on her face.

"You should be sleeping." He whispered back. "You earned the rest."

She snorted quietly, then winced as she shifted to a slightly different position. "I sure did."

"Are you in a lot of pain?"

"It's tolerable for now," Rory told him softly. "I'll be ready for another little white pill in a little while though I'm sure."

"Just say when Ace," Logan said. "Women deserve far more credit than we men give them, for what you go through having babies. Our part of the deal is almost all fun. Yours is fucking unbelievable."

Rory laughed breathlessly and pressed her hands over her stomach. "I love you, Logan."

"I love you too. But I am 100 percent serious. I'm not sure how you did it Ace. I don't think I could have survived it, if I'd been you." He admitted.

"Oh, I'm sure that's true too." She agreed and grinned at him. "There's obviously a reason God made women the ones who'd carry the babies and not men. Otherwise the entire human race would have died out millennia ago."

Logan shifted the baby in his arms and slowly rose up from his seat. At his movement she shifted carefully toward the other side of her bed. He took two small steps to her bedside and carefully climbed up to rest at her side. With the baby's head in his palm and it's body along his forearm, Logan held him out so they could both admire him.

"He does need a name." Logan said, agreeing with those first words that had come from her lips. "I just don't think Lorelai would suit him."

Rory tilted her head to rest on his shoulder, her opposite hand stretched forward, fingers gently brushing over the babe's eyebrows. "No. I don't think that one will work."

They sat like that, quietly staring at the baby and pondering what to name him, for several long minutes.

"What do you think about Richard?" Logan finally suggested. Rory lifted her head and looked at him, tears quickly filling her eyes.

She nodded but turned back to their son. "Not for his first name though. I like the idea of using Grandpa's name, but I think as his middle name. He should have his own first name. The name that is his alone, should be his first."

"That's good with me." Logan told her. "Any ideas for that?"

"I'm thinking," she murmured. "Perhaps I'd think better if I was holding him?"

Logan chuckled under his breath. "Shameless."

"And damn proud of it too." Rory teased as he transferred the boy into her waiting arms, then looked down at the baby to whisper. "Hello my beautiful boy. What do you want your name to be, I wonder?"

"He's not the most conversational of souls quite yet, I'm afraid." Logan said wryly.

"No," Rory agreed. "I suppose not." She kissed his head, just like Logan had only minutes earlier. Logan put his arm around her shoulders, brushed a finger of his other hand down the boy's nose.

"He's so beautiful." He marvelled. Rory turned her head and Logan kissed her lips gently. "Thank you for being you, Rory. For loving me. For giving birth to this little guy. Just thank you."

"Liam." Rory suddenly said. Her voice was still soft, but the tone was firm. "Liam Richard Huntzberger."

"Liam?" Logan murmured, his hand moving to cup the back of the boy's head. "Liam. I like it."

"And bonus, the three of us will all have the same first initial." She commented.

"You're sure about calling him Huntzberger? It's a name with weight." Logan wondered.

"I'm sure it's the name that belongs to him."

"Have I mentioned how much I love you?" Logan asked.

Her chest and stomach shook with her silent laughter and her smile was glorious. "A few times today. But I'll never get tired of hearing you say it."

"Well, I do, Ace." He assured her and kissed the side of her head. She rested her head back on his shoulder. "Get some more sleep. I'll wake you when he needs you."

"M'kay." She murmured tiredly. "Don't let him fall."

"I've got you both." He promised. "Sleep now. I've got you."

A few minutes later, she'd dozed back off to sleep with her head on his shoulder, and their son in her arms. "I'll be right here with you, Rory. I promise."

* * *

Just moments after their dinner had been taken away there was a quick but firm knock on the door. Rory met Logan's eyes with a smile and suspecting it was any number of family come to visit, she called an easy "Come in!" from her bed. Logan was holding the baby again, since she'd been eating, and they both looked at the door as it cracked open. Lorelai stuck her head in first, grinned then opened it fully to enter the room. Luke was with her this time and Emily of course, but the surprise was Lane.

"Hi!" Rory beamed at them. "I wondered if you guys would be back today. Luke you came! And you brought Lane too."

"You know I'm not too fond of hospitals but I'm making an excepting for you, and those guys over there." Luke told her with a small smile and gestured with his head toward Logan and the baby. He gave her a quick hug, a rare show of emotion for him, and made room for Lane. Lorelai and Emily had made a beeline for the baby and hovered on either side of Logan's chair making cooing sounds and faces at the newest little member of the family.

Lane gave Rory a tight hug, arms digging behind her friends back to wrap all the way around her. She held on for a long minute and then pulled back. "How are you doing?" She asked.

"I'm okay. Really." Rory promised and she smiled. "I'm not going to say it was easy, cause God knows it wasn't, but you know what they say? All those hours of pain and suffering sort of melt away when they place your baby in your arms the first time."

"I'm so happy for you, Ror," Lane told her and grasped her hands. "And a boy? How's that for a surprise? We were all sure you were gonna have a girl."

Rory laughed. "It's going to be interesting that's for sure." She glanced over and found the baby was now in Lorelai's arms and Luke was beside her, looking at the little boy and talking quietly to Lorelai at his side. "Logan was changing his diaper earlier and we quickly learned why it is so very important to have all your supplies on hand and ready before you take off the dirty diaper."

"Lord I remember that." Lane laughed. "You'll get good and fast at it after a while though, I promise. Until then, they have these nifty little teepee things can drop over the firehose while you've got his diaper off that help contain any accidental shootings."

"Really?" Logan asked scooting on to bed on the other side of Rory and getting comfortable beside her. "We'll have to find some of those. You wouldn't expect that little thing to have decent enough pressure to wave around and yet…"

The ladies' belly-laughed and Logan grinned. He slipped his arm around Rory's shoulder and she snuggled into his side, her hands still held in both of Lane's. It was another minute or two before the girls began to quiet.

"So, did you come up with Luke?" Logan asked. "I thought Lorelai and Emily were going back to our place to get some sleep and hang out for the day."

"Yeah, Zach and I had lunch at the diner today because I wanted to get an update on you and the baby. Your mom texted this morning with the major deets but, you know, I wanted more. Then Luke mentioned that he was driving into the city tonight and Zach was practically ready to push me into his truck then and there." Lane explained smiling broadly. "I'm sort of hoping there might be a bed or couch for me to crash on for the night. Luke's planning on staying over and we'll head back tomorrow after we visit you and the baby again in the morning."

Rory glanced at Logan. "Well there's the downstairs guest suite-" she began.

"I'll check with the guys and make sure no one is planning on using it. But I'm pretty sure you're clear to use it tonight." Logan finished and immediately fished his cell phone out of his pant pocket.

Hearing her mother's laughter, Rory looked over and smiled. Lorelai and Emily had pushed Luke into the glider Logan had been sitting in earlier. He had the little boy in his arms and though he didn't look entirely comfortable, the look on his face was one of absolute devotion.

"He's going to be a great Grandpa." Lane murmured with a hard squeeze of Rory's hands.

Rory squeezed back, tears flooding her eyes again. "He really is."

"Oh," Logan muttered beside her. "Honor just texted to say she and Josh will be here in a little bit but she wants to know if it's okay to bring Eliza and Jared up with them." He flashed the phone screen in her direction. "She swears that both of them are healthy as horses and haven't had so much as a sniffle in more than a month."

"I don't know," Rory said with a bit of a frown. "Are kids even allowed on this floor?"

"There were a few walking down the hall with their parents when we came up." Lane commented. "The nurses will definitely stop them from coming in if they don't want them in here."

"Maybe you should go check with the nurses Logan," Rory suggested and glanced at him with raised brows. "Just to make sure."

"You're okay with it though, if the nurses approve?" He clarified.

"Yeah, I guess," she said with a slight frown. "But maybe they shouldn't hold him yet? I don't know, what's an appropriate age to let a kid hold a newborn baby?"

He smirked. "Maybe I'll ask that too."

"God," she groaned lightly. "We're going to be '_those parents'_ aren't we? I don't want to be those parents who overanalyze and overprotect their kid from every real or imaginary risk."

"You're allowed to be a little overprotective right off the bat." Lane assured them both, laughing lightly while she did. "Her kids are what 5 and 6?" She asked and the both nodded in response. "Then I'd say they are probably too young to hold a newborn baby all on their own. But they can look at him, and maybe with Logan or one of their parents help, they could sit in a chair and hold him with a pillow on their lap for extra support. But it's totally up to you guys, you get to decide."

"Well I guess we'll see if the kids even want to try." Rory suggested and glanced at Logan again. "Someone can help them. I think Eliza would get a kick out of it. But you'd still better check with the nurses to see if it's alright for the kids to come up at all."

He kissed the side of her head and drew away with a smile. "Alright, I'll do that and let Honor know." Logan slipped from the bed but paused when he stood beside it. He looked at her for a moment. "I should probably check in with my parents too. I imagine they may be back tonight as well."

Rory nodded. "Good idea."

"Okay, I'll be a few minutes then." He told her. "Love you." Then he was leaving, though he paused at Emily's side for a moment to say something to her before he finished crossing the room and slipped out the door, closing it softly behind him.

Lane squeezed Rory's hands again, drawing her friend's attention back to her. "I hear it was a tough delivery."

"They're probably all tough in one way or another," Rory replied idly and glanced over toward the rest of her family, her son. "But yeah, the vibe seemed a little 'though I walk through the valley'-esque there for a while. Didn't help that I progressed so quickly through the early stages that they wouldn't give me the epidural we'd planned for. I ended up having to stick with gas for most of the time, and trust me when I say that stuff doesn't take your pain away, it just makes it so you don't care about the pain nearly as much as you should. I didn't like it."

"But you're okay?" Lane persisted.

Rory breathed deep and sighing, turned back to look at her best, oldest friend. She smiled at the worry that showed in Lane's face. "I'm fine. Sore of course. And though I slept a good portion of the day, I'm still tired. I'm sort of expecting that malady to simply be a part of my new reality though."

"If you're sure." She said reluctantly, giving Rory's hands another squeeze.

"I'm sure." Rory promised.

"Okay. But if you're ever not okay, even if it's just that you're overwhelmed or overtired, or over-whatever, you know you can call me. Any time." Lane informed her seriously and Rory's eyes filled with tears again.

Now it was Rory who squeezed Lane's hands hard. "Thank you. And I will."

"Good. Now," Lane said and shifted slightly to more easily look at the baby. "What do you think my odds are of getting that baby from them so I can meet my nephew?"

"Give them a couple more minutes then I think we should be able to pry him away." Rory answered with ease and beatific smile. She relaxed back into her pillows and sighed again. "They are pretty excited though."

Lane chuckled and watched the two Gilmore women talking and gesturing around the baby still snuggly held in Luke's arms. "They have every right to be. Do you remember how Mama was when my boys were born?"

"Boy, do I!" Rory laughed. "She would stand guard between the bassinets and question anyone who came near. And before she'd let anyone within three feet of them, you had to demonstrably prove you'd washed your hands and verify you hadn't had any symptoms of illness in the last 48 hours. She was like a bulldog guarding her bones. It was endearing in it's way."

"Like a bulldog with her bones?" Lane laughed. "I'd almost be tempted to tell her you said that but in all honesty, she'd probably find the description fitting."

Rory's eyes twinkled. "Knowing your mom, she probably would."

Half an hour later the hospital room was full of visitors. Honor and Josh had got there first, both young kids with them and on their very best behaviour. Mitchum and Shira had arrived not long after their daughter's family, and barely minutes behind them, Christopher, Gigi and Francine had shown up. At one point a nurse poked her head into the room and though she hadn't kicked them out, she had shaken her head at the number of visitors and told them to "keep it quiet, please." Surprisingly it was Francine, who eventually asked the all-important question of the new parents.

"What did you decide to name him, Rory?" She asked while gazing happily at the baby in her son's arms. "Your father said you hadn't picked one yet, when he left this morning."

Conversation quieted as they realized that, in fact, they'd all been using nicknames and terms of affection when addressing the baby or talking to him. Everyone in the room focused on the new parents and watched as Logan eased once again on to the bed beside Rory. His arm slipped around her shoulders as they glanced at each other with beaming smiles.

"We did spend a bit of time discussing that this afternoon," Rory told them. "As Logan pointed out, calling him Lorelai just wouldn't do." Everyone chuckled.

"Honestly, we hadn't thought a lot about what to call a boy." Logan admitted. "We were both pretty convinced we'd be welcoming a girl to the family."

"Well?" Honor demanded after a moment. "Did you settle on something?"

Rory smiled. Logan glanced at her when she gave him a nudge, then cleared his throat. "Everyone, we're happy to formally introduce you to our son, Liam Richard Huntzberger."

There were smiles aplenty and a multitude of 'awww's' and other cooing sounds at the name. Rory's eyes were on Emily and Lorelai. At Logan's words, Lorelai had immediately taken her mother's hand and both the women's eyes filled with tears. Emily's free hand came up to rest on her heart and her lips pressed tightly together in an effort to control her emotions.

"That's a very fitting, very good name." Mitchum eventually said, the first of them to find words to speak. "And a beautiful nod to Richard's memory."

"Oh, Rory," Emily managed. "Your grandfather would be so incredibly proud of you, and unbelievably honoured by the use of his name."

Rory sniffled and wiped away a couple tears. "It seemed right," she admitted. "When Logan suggested it, it just seemed right."

Emily's gaze shifted to Logan. "Richard was always fond of you Logan, even after Yale when the two of you had separated. Thank you for honouring him."

"Rory said it best," he told her with a slight shrug. "It just seemed right."

"It's absolutely right." Lorelai said drawing his attention. "Liam Richard. It's the perfect name, for a perfect little boy."

* * *

Nearly three weeks later Rory glanced up from her laptop screen at the light knock on her office door. She'd mostly been doing edits on the first book lately, but that day she'd pulled up the files for the fourth book and had actually managed to get down nearly three thousand words. She frowned lightly at the interruption but tapped a couple keys to save her work and pushed back from her desk to answer the door. As she crossed the room her hands came up to rest on the baby she was wearing tied snuggly to her front. Liam had stirred a few times through the morning but had been mostly content to rest against his mother chest, soothed by the sound of her steady heartbeat. She dropped her head and kissed the fuzz covering the top of his. Then she reached for the doorknob and quietly opened the portal.

Finn's smiling face greeted her. He glanced down at the dozing baby with his signature twinkle in his eye. He whispered, "Hey beautiful! Margaret sent me up with the message that lunch is ready and that Sarah called earlier to say she would be here after her exam was done."

"What time is it?" Rory asked him and he grinned at the question.

"Things are going good this morning then?" He teased and she blushed.

She poked at his stomach, but he caught her hand and twined her arm with his to pull her away from her office. "It is nearly one." He informed her.

"Good Lord," she muttered with a rueful glance in his direction, offering no resistance at all to his leading her out of the hall and down the stairs. "I've been in there for nearly four hours. I had no idea."

"Well that's good isn't it?" He asked.

"It is," Rory agreed easily. "I've actually been writing this morning, so that's very good."

"And apparently the little guy is doing his best to let Mother get some work done too." Finn commented with a wink.

"He's been a perfect little darling this morning," Rory told him. "I guess I did have to stop once earlier and take a little break. Somebody needed a diaper change and a snack."

"Then right back to sleep?" He asked mockingly. "Living a life of luxury, your boy is. Just like a Huntzberger."

Rory laughed again, something very easy to do when with Finn. "I'm sure he'll earn his keep when the time comes. Until then, we'll leave him be."

"Rory!" Robert greeted cheerfully from his seat at the dining table when she and Finn reached the main level. "You are looking fabulous. No one would believe you gave birth just a couple weeks ago."

"Faced with the image of an infant tied to my chest, I think some people may." Rory countered.

"Nonsense. You could just be babysitting." He suggested.

"Only 24 hours a day."

"Not true." Finn admonished. "Lovely, lovely Sarah will be here before too much longer to relieve you of your parental duties for a short while. Will you come out to play with us?"

She pursed her lips in a serious effort to keep from smiling. "Finn, please leave our nanny alone. She is here to work, and her job is to care for your godson. Plus, Logan and I both really like her."

"I can't believe you would imply what I believe you're implying. I would never do anything to threaten the well-being of my newest favourite person in the world." Finn's hand rose dramatically to his chest and he thumped his fist over his heart for effect.

"Do you figure he means Liam," Margaret wondered idly as she carried a large bowl to the round dining table. "Or Sarah?" Robert and Rory laughed and Margaret winked at them. After depositing the bowl on the table, she turned and headed back to the kitchen. "I'll be back."

"You too!" Finn cried. "Have you all forsaken me? Does no one love me anymore?"

Rory's laughter intensified and the shaking of her body startled Liam. Through her giggles she pulled down the front of her _Solly Wrap_ and with a few strategic tugs, extracted the baby from the fabric. She cooed at him, murmuring nonsense in soft tones and then settled him in her arms.

"Look who's here, little man. Here's Uncle Robert and Uncle Finn. They've come to see us." She glanced up at the men with a smile. "I bet they'd love to have some snuggle time with you. Who do you think wants to take you first, huh?"

Finn laughed. "Oh, Rob can have him first this time. He's only here for the rest of the day. Then he has to leave on a business trip for nearly a month. Meanwhile I'm here till the end of July for board meetings and mid-year reviews."

"Really?" Rory asked and was genuinely happy to hear that he would be around for a good stretch of time. "When you had to go straight back to Sydney after coming to see us when Liam was born, I almost assumed we wouldn't see you until the fall."

"Nope, my dear," Finn assured. "I had a few meetings and such I had to go back for. You may remember this trip was in the books. I reserved my private suite months ago and everything."

"Rather rudely too, as I suddenly recall." Robert commented as Rory transferred Liam into his arms. "Gained a bit of weight, hasn't he?"

Rory smirked, "I'm sure you won't be surprised to learn that my son enjoys eating. Tremendously." The men laughed and Rory expression softened to smile. She settled back into her seat and looked into the bowl. A rather delicious looking pasta salad sat waiting but Rory realized there was no serving spoon in the bowl. "Hmmm. Suddenly I'm starving."

"Suddenly?" Finn asked.

Robert teased. "Isn't that just a normal state of existence for you?"

"Not during the first few minutes after she's just finished eating a meal." Margaret commented, once again having walked into the room at precisely the right time. This time she carried a pitcher of iced tea and a serving spoon in one hand, and a basket of bread in the other.

"It's the baby!" Rory cried laughing. "He's sucking all the nutrients and goodness right out of me. I swear."

"And what was your excuse before?" Margaret demanded. "I've heard stories Miss Gilmore, and if someone didn't know you, or hadn't met your mother, one might call you a glutton."

Having immediately claimed the spoon from the housekeepers hand, Rory was already scooping pasta salad on to her plate. She paused to glance at the older woman. "But knowing me and having met my mother, what would you call it?"

Margaret laughed and rolled her eyes. "A paradox." She answered and headed for the stairs. "Make sure you leave something for those boys to eat."

"Where's the loyalty?" Rory called as Margaret started the climb up.

"What? They're good boys." Margaret replied cheekily and disappeared up the steps.

Finn laughed and poured tea for all three of them. "How have things been going?"

"Good." Rory told him honestly. "The first few days we were home were sort of scary, as you may remember. We're getting the hang of things though. And so far, he's been a really good sleeper, which helps a lot."

"Is Logan any help?" Robert wondered.

Rory smiled at him and nodded her head. "We split the middle of the night wake ups. Logan does diapers and I deal with the feeding."

"Well you are the one with the proper equipment for that, darling." Finn teased and she beamed a happy smile at him while she ate.

"You know, every time we talk to Huntzberger lately, all he does is talk about Liam." Robert added.

"He's pretty much all I talk about too." Rory commented.

"I haven't seen him in two weeks," Finn put in. "And I can't stop talking about him either."

"You're an idiot." The other man accused.

Finn made a face. "You're just still sore that they picked me to be Liam's godfather."

"Of course, they picked you."

"If it makes you feel better Rob, we also picked Josh." Rory said with a grimace.

Robert frowned. "Why would that make me feel better?"

"Because in the unlikely event Logan and I both die, we're not trusting Finn alone to care for our child." She explained and his frown deepened for a moment before clearing.

"I guess that does make me feel a bit better." He agreed and tossed a sneering expression in Finn's direction.

"I think the picks are brilliant!" Finn exclaimed. "No matter what happens I get to continue to be fun Uncle Finn, while Josh and Honor take care of all the boring serious stuff."

Rory rolled her eyes. "As long as you're okay with it, Finn. _That's_ what's important."

* * *

She rubbed the water from her hair with a towel as she walked into their bedroom. Though it was a Friday and Logan would normally be at work, or headed there in short order, he was still happily lounging on their big bed with Liam beside him. It had been a month since the little boy had been born and while life was forever changed, again, merely by his presence, they had settled into something of a normal routine.

"You're really not going to work today?" She asked him again.

He glanced over at her with a smile on his lips. His head was propped up on one hand, while with the other he continued to tickle their son's stomach. The baby had his little hands wrapped around two of Logan's fingers and kept trying to pull them toward his mouth.

"I'm really not going to the office today." He repeated, glancing for a second at Liam, then looking back to her. "It's not everyday someone has his one-month birthday, Ace. I couldn't miss that."

"Hey, don't get me wrong, I'm happy you'll be here. I'm just surprised is all." She told him as she came over to the bed and climbed up to sit cross-legged on the opposite side of the baby. "You never mentioned you were going to be home today."

He shrugged lightly. "There wasn't anything pressing in my schedule for the day and I cleared my desk of any important projects needing my attention yesterday afternoon."

"Well however you managed it, I'm glad."

"Can you believe he's a month old already?" Logan asked.

"It is sort of hard to grasp, huh?" Rory agreed. "Even knowing he was coming and all the things we did to prepare for when we brought him home, it's still kinda unbelievable. Miraculous. I love him so much. I didn't even know you could love someone like this."

"I know exactly what you mean. I remember sitting in the hospital room a few hours after he was born and being amazed by how much I already loved him." He told her. "That's only grown. That love is a little more, a little bigger, every single day. It is miraculous."

The two of them sat together quietly for several long minutes, comfortably ensconced with their child inside the private world they'd built and would continue to build for themselves. Logan continued playing with the baby, occasionally murmuring nonsensical conversation to him, but he was acutely aware of every move Rory made and of the way her eyes lingered on him and their son. Rory eventually tossed the towel to the foot of their bed and pulled a comb from the pocket of her bathrobe. Silently she combed her hair and watched her men. She thought again of all the changes her life had seen in the past month, and more, the changes that had taken place in the past year.

"So much has changed in my life, Logan," she eventually whispered. "Not just having Liam, though that is one of the greatest changes, but you and me, making this house our home, even my books. The whole picture of my life has changed in the past year. Last July, I wouldn't have even dreamed we would be here like this."

He looked at her now, his eyes focused on her, searching. "They've all been good changes though, right?"

"The best," Rory promised. "I was always more-or-less happy. Or maybe content is the better word to describe it. I was always content for life to simply go on the way it was. I wasn't always satisfied with what I had, but whatever I had, I knew it could be even less. Honestly it wasn't any one thing that happened that made me stop and ask myself why I never fought for more, why I was content to have less, just why."

Rory frowned for a minute. "Now I look back and I want to shake that old me. I lost my drive and my passion for journalism years ago, yet I pursued that course as if there were no other options. You and I lost years that we could have been really together because I was too afraid to simply reach out and take hold of what you offered. I—"

"Ace, I think sometimes you just have to accept that things happen if and when they're meant to." Logan finally interrupted. "Maybe you needed to chase journalism as far and as long as you did, even after you'd lost your passion for it, so that when you did change the course of your career, you could do so knowing you'd exhausted every possibility."

"I guess, maybe." She grudgingly agreed.

"And as for you and me," he continued easily, his eyes on hers. "We were both afraid, Rory. Both of us were scared to get hurt by pushing for more than what we had. The time we could have had and didn't, that's not all on you. And maybe, just like you needed to exhaust all the possibilities of journalism before you could move on, maybe we just needed the right buttons to be pushed, the right motivation to brave those fears and risk real rejection again."

"That may be, Logan, but I never want you to think, or to feel like the only reason we're together is because of Liam."

"I don't." Logan told her with a chuckle. "Ace, if there was ever a woman more capable of raising a child on her own, I've never met her. I've never felt like he's the reason you're with me now. I can't imagine I ever would. Even pregnant you put up some impressive resistance to my charms."

"They are legendary," she teased.

So he teased back. "_I know_. And yet, it still took time before I managed to convince you that you couldn't live without me."

"Oh," Rory said curiously, that teasing note still present. "Have you done that?"

"I hope so." He replied.

"Do you?" Rory wondered.

He stared at her silently for another minute, his eyes losing their laughing gleam, his whole expression taking on a suddenly serious cast. "Yeah." He paused another beat then shifted, twisting around and stretching toward his nightstand while he muttered. "Hold on a sec."

When he turned back, he didn't resume his former lazy position. Sitting opposite her, their son's squirming body laying between them, Logan's gaze locked on hers. He reached out to grasp her hand with one of his, pulling it gently so their twined fingers came to rest over Liam's middle.

He released a deep breath. "I've loved you so long now it seems like I always have. For years I buried those feelings - because I'd messed up, because you weren't ready; there were a lot of reasons. When you said goodbye last fall in New Hampshire, I told myself that wouldn't be the end. I told myself it _couldn't_ be the end. Once things had been settled with Odette, I intended to come after you." He smiled when she blinked at his revelation. "I was going to force you to listen while I explained everything about Odette and the engagement. I was going to tell you everything and I was going to tell you that I loved you. And if after all that you still wanted to say goodbye, if you really just didn't want me, I would have let you go."

"Logan," she whispered.

"I would have let you go, and I would have tried to figure out some way to move on with my life without you. But I believed, even then, that what we could be together, that what I felt for you and what I prayed you felt for me, I believed it was worth the risk of one last leap of faith." Logan lifted their hands and kissed her fingers, then lowered them back to rest again on their son. "Then you knocked on my door last December and I knew I was right."

"I never guessed you could be pregnant when you first showed up. And when you told me, I'll admit I was blindsided, but at the same time everything became crystal clear. This was our chance; it was finally our time. If we were ever going to make us work, for real, this was it." He licked his lips, his fingers reflexively squeezed her. "I'm going to ask you a question but before I do, I need you to know that what we have now, here, I could live happily like this forever. If you answer no to my question, well that's okay, because I don't _need_ any more than what we have right now to be happy. But I want more Rory. I want everything. With you."

Rory sniffed and blinked back tears that threatened to fall.

"I want you to be my wife," Logan continued. "To be my partner in all ways and in all things. I'd love another child someday, maybe more, because I look at Liam and at you with Liam, and I know that while life won't always be easy, together we can handle it. I want everything but all I need Rory, is you."

"Logan," she said, his name drawn out breathlessly as she began crying. Through tears she watched him lift his other hand from where it had been resting in his lap. She bit her lip and wiped furiously at her eyes as that hand opened to reveal the small velvet box in his palm.

"It's 8:03am, Ace. Liam is exactly one month old, right now. He is the greatest blessing of my life and the best gift I've ever received. And I would have none of it, if it weren't for you. I love you, so much. Will you give me another gift? Will you marry me, Rory?"

Her mouth opened but only a sob emerged. Her hand covered her mouth to muffle the sound, but her tears flowed like rain down her cheeks. Logan dropped the ring box to the bed to reach over and wipe the tears away. At his touch, she squeezed her eyes shut.

"Ace, I'm sorry. It's okay—" he began to tell her, though his heart pounded in his chest.

"Yes." She finally said, then pulled her hand away from her mouth, opened her eyes to look in his and repeated the word. "Yes. Yes. Yes. I love you too. Yes."

Logan sucked in a breath and held it. Then he leaned toward her and, with a shift of his hand to the back of her head, pulled her toward him. He released the hand he held against Liam and cupped the other side of her head as well. They met in the middle, their lips coming together desperately for just a minute before he pulled back a scant inch and met her eyes once more.

"Yes?" He asked, just to be sure.

She smiled, gloriously and repeated. "Yes." And then his smile spread across his face and in his eyes was a light she had never seen before, so she said it once more. "Yes."

* * *

_***this is my grin and pray moment folks***_

... and now that I've done that, I'm going to go hide for a little while. My fingers are crossed however, that you've liked this and that you like the life that is taking shape around Logan and Rory in this story.

Until next time - _and remember the next chapter is the Epilogue!_ \- happy reading. Be happy, be healthy, be safe.

Love ~ Apalusa-light (better known as LD Ferris)

PS- my inbox is always open to anyone who needs to chat - about life, about what you're reading, or whatever. And I will be updating my profile to make sure that info about where else you can connect with me online is available to anyone who wants it! ~~ LD


	17. Forever Forward My Dear

Hello, again, everyone. This brings us, at last, to the end of the original storyline of _**Ever Changing Life**_. Rest assured, this is not the end of the story. It's just the beginning of the rest of their lives.

I'm hitting publish on this final chapter of the original story on November 1, 2020, and I'm hitting publish with a clearly defined plan and goal in place. After all, for writers all around the world November is well known as **National Novel Writing Month**, or **NaNoWriMo** \- 30 days in which writers toil at their keyboards (or wherever they write best) to write 50,000 words. My writing project this year? A sequel/companion piece to _**Ever Changing Life**_... I'll tell you a little bit more after this chapter!

For now, I hope you'll enjoy this Epilogue chapter of Rory and Logan's story.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the characters, settings, or original story premise of _Gilmore Girls_, or _Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life_. I lay claim only to my own fits of imagination that have twisted and molded those characters and storyline for my own purposes and for your entertainment.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the rights to the trademark National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo. I am merely a long-time participant who is happy to tell the world she's writing.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the rights, nor have any affiliation (besides occasionally partaking of the cool treat) with the _Ben & Jerry's_ ice cream company.

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 17: Forever Forward My Dear, This Is an Ever Changing Life**

Epilogue

Lorelai burst into the house, shouting out a cheery hello as she closed the door behind her and shook off her heavy jacket. She heard the murmur of Rory speaking as she removed and hung her scarf, toque and coat. Then she followed the sound of her daughter's voice. She hesitated at the nearly closed door to Rory's old room off the kitchen, pausing to listen to the noise from within. After just a couple moments she decided to peek into the room and very quietly pushed the door open far enough for her to stick her head through.

She didn't say a word but smiled at the sight before her. Rory was sitting reclined against pillows at the head of the bed, much as she used to do as a child. Beside her, Liam lay with his head on the pillow and his eyes closed. He was either very nearly asleep or listening very intently to the story Rory was reading him. Rory kept reading aloud at a steady pace but glanced over to acknowledge her mother's arrival home and raised one finger to indicate she would be out shortly. Lorelai nodded and pulled her head from the room, then pulled the door so it was again nearly closed.

To kill some time, she got a pot of coffee brewing and gathered a few snacks onto the table. She was just sitting down with a fresh cup of java and digging into a pint of _Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Therapy_ when Rory slipped out of the room and pulled the door fully closed behind her. She filled a mug with coffee for herself and sat down across from her mother.

With a smile she grabbed a spoon and dug out a bite of ice cream. Before bringing it to her mouth, she teased, "Just like old times."

"They were some of the best." Lorelai agreed, scooped up another bite of her own and shoved it into her mouth. Around the spoon she continued. "Now they're like classic movies you re-watch every once in a while, and reminisce over."

"Too true," Rory said after swallowing. "But I have to say, I'm a big fan of the current times. They're pretty great too."

Lorelai snorted her laugh. "If I had that little cutie following me around every day and got to snuggle with him every night at bedtime, I'd probably agree with you."

"What was it you told me after you brought Liam back to New York after that week you had him out here in October?" Rory asked rhetorically and smirked. "Wasn't it something about being glad you were 'just Gran' because you were too old to have to deal with all the energy of a toddler every day?"

"Oh hush," her mother laughed. "Trust me, I am immensely glad that you get to deal with that bundle of boundless energy every single day and that I simply get to enjoy it from time to time."

Rory's laugh joined Lorelai's and for a couple minutes the girls simply sat, chuckling, eating cold ice cream and sipping hot coffee.

"Really though, Ror, you're doing a wonderful job with him." Lorelai eventually told her daughter. "You can see how much he loves you, and loves Logan, in the way he lights up when you're with him and the way his eyes follow you. When he's not trailing in your shadow that is."

"Thank you, Mom," Rory said softly. "I always worry when I'm working that I'm not spending enough time with him. It's nice to hear you think we're doing okay."

"You are." Lorelai assured. "You and Logan are both so great with him. You know I had reservations about what kind of father Logan would be, but I can honestly say that he's surprised me. And I can't complain about the way he treats you either."

Rory's smile was brilliant in response to her words. After a couple moments the expression softened. "I'm really glad that you've been able to accept Logan. It wouldn't have changed anything if you hadn't, but it does make life a little bit easier."

"Well, I was wrong." Lorelai admitted with pursed lips. "I expected he would be like your dad, or like the worst of every other man I've encountered in our lives. I didn't realize, no," she corrected herself with a shake of her head. "I didn't understand how much the two of you simply, I don't know, complete each other. Luke and I, we just sort of stumbled our way into this life. It wasn't always easy, God knows, but once we were able to look at one another without all the other things in life getting in the way, our whole relationship just fell into place."

"True," Rory murmured agreement.

"I guess I always assumed that one day you'd meet someone, and things would just fall into place too."

"In a way, it sort of did." Rory said. "It's just the first time around we were young and we complicated things far more than necessary. Then when we met again in Hamburg all those years ago, I was too scared to try and make what we had as meaningful as it should have been. And so, we complicated things again, even worse than we did the first time around."

She paused and sipped her coffee. "It was like getting pregnant suddenly cleared away all the unnecessary difficulties we'd built up between us. I know I was hesitant going back into things with Logan last year, but it was never because I didn't want Logan. I just didn't want to mess things up even worse."

"Oh, kid, I'm glad you had the guts to go after what you wanted despite my unhappiness with it." Lorelai finally replied. "Not just with Logan, but with your books too. I know I was less than enthusiastic about that as well."

"Yeah, you were." Rory agreed and Lorelai grimaced when she realized that the woman her daughter had become during the past two and a half years wasn't going to blithely let her off the hook.

"I guess I was wrong about that too." She said. "I should have trusted that you would find a way to tell the story while also protecting the life we had."

"Yeah, you should have," Rory told her after a slight pause.

"I'm thinking maybe I should just stop while I'm ahead." Lorelai muttered and Rory laughed.

"I love what I've done with our story, though it has ended up being more mine with the way I've changed things," Rory explained. "What I ended up with wasn't really what I'd intended when I started it. If you'd read those first three chapters I gave you before your wedding, you would know that what ended up being published was much different."

"Then it's probably a good thing I refused to read them then, because I absolutely love what I have read of the published books, so far." Lorelai admitted.

Rory's smile bloomed again. "Thanks, Mom."

"So anyways," she announced with dramatic flair a moment later. "I left your grandmothers' happily snug in their rooms at the Annex. Your dad and Gigi were headed to Black, White and Read to watch a movie, but they are also checked in and settled in their rooms."

"What's playing tonight?" Rory wondered with idle curiosity.

"_2001: A Space Odyssey_." Lorelai replied ironically. "And _Barton Fink_. I'm really not sure what's up with Kirk lately; his choices of films have been weird. Weirder than usual, anyways."

"Did you ever watch his film about his pig?" Rory asked.

Lorelai huffed a laugh. "Yeah okay, maybe it's par for the course." Rory nodded in agreement. "And I checked with Amelia at the Inn on my way home. Logan, his parents, Honor and her family, and your _Lost Boys_, all checked in earlier this evening. They all apparently had dinner together and are now relaxing around the place. Logan and the boys have apparently claimed one of the dining room tables and are busily playing poker, and drinking one of the bottles of good scotch I took over for them earlier."

"Good to know." Rory said with a little smile.

"You probably already knew that." Lorelai guessed.

Rory shrugged. "We FaceTime-ed with Logan before bedtime. All the boys were there."

"I imagine that made bedtime so much easier." She teased.

"It wasn't too bad. He doesn't really understand it all but he's certainly excited to see everyone together. It doesn't happen nearly often enough." Rory said.

"You are coming to Nantucket for Christmas, right?" Lorelai demanded.

She rolled her eyes. "Yes we're coming. Grandma asked me that a dozen times this afternoon too. Why wouldn't we be coming?"

"I don't know, maybe you're secretly planning on celebrating Christmas with the Huntzberger's this year?" Lorelai suggested.

"Well, we are celebrating Christmas with them," Rory told her. "It's the HPG Christmas party on the 21st, then we're having dinner and doing gifts on the 22nd with everyone at our house. And then we'll head out to Nantucket on the 23rd."

"Oh, well," her mother muttered. "As long as you're coming."

"We are." Rory assured her.

"Good." Lorelai said then frowned. "Do you think mom is lonely out there?"

Rory smiled. "I think Grandma has a fulfilling thing going at the museum, and that she's as socially active as she wants to be when she's out there. She's been coming to the city once a month for a long weekend or a few days through the week. And she's been coming back to Hartford every once in a while, for the occasional DAR event or for parties one of her friends are hosting."

"That doesn't mean she's not lonely." Lorelai insisted.

"Why do you think she's lonely?" Rory asked.

Now Lorelai shrugged. "I don't know, she hasn't mentioned Jack in a while."

"Oh, that," Rory laughed. "He's been away for a month or so. Grandma was just talking about him this afternoon when she and I got our nails done. He's in Santa Monica, or Santa Barbara, or one of the other Santa places in California visiting his daughter and her family. Grandma says he'll be back on the East Coast just after the New Year."

"Well why didn't she just tell me that?" Lorelai demanded.

Rory snickered. "Probably because you get so uncomfortable when she talks about Jack that you usually end up picking a fight, or blurting out something completely at random, and it annoys her."

"It's just weird," she muttered.

"So no, I don't think Grandma's particularly lonely out there." Rory commented, answering Lorelai's original question. "I do worry occasionally about her being out there when there are storms but it's not like she's really alone. She still has Berta, which is a miracle in itself, and there are any number of Berta's family around at any given time."

"I guess," Lorelai agreed and admitted. "I worry some too."

"I was a little surprised actually when she told me that she was going to stay at the Annex for the weekend, instead of going back and forth to the Hartford house." Rory said.

Loreali chuckled. "That's my fault. She said she wasn't going to risk the possibility that you and Logan would decide to elope the night before the wedding and have her miss it. She made me promise that if you both suddenly lose your minds, I have to come and get her so she can at least witness your nuptials."

Rory dissolved into laughter at the ridiculous but strangely reasonable explanation, and Lorelai joined her. They eventually moved to the living room and continued to chat and reminisce well into the night.

* * *

"Who presents Rory to be wed this afternoon to Logan, before these select family and friends?" Reverend Skinner asked in sonorous tones.

"We do," a three-part harmony of voices said together. Rory looked over her shoulder and smiled at her Dad, her Mom and Luke where they stood just paces behind her. Considering the vast improvement in their relationship, it had been easy for Rory to choose her father to walk her down the aisle. Yet she still wanted to include Luke and her mother too, and thus the three of them 'giving her away' together at the beginning of the ceremony.

What followed was a brief but touching lesson about love: about it's strength and endurance, it's vulnerabilities and it's power. Reverend Skinner spoke a bit about Rory growing up in Stars Hollow and about his joy at seeing the woman she'd become with a man who was so obviously just right for her. And then it was time for the vows.

"At this time, Logan and Rory have chosen to make promises to one another before this gathered congress. Logan you may go first." The reverend directed.

Rory and Logan turned and faced each other and took the other's hands. Logan took a deep breath and smiled at her, complete happiness shining in his expression.

"I, Logan Elias promise to you, Lorelai Leigh, before our family and friends, to stand by your side, to share and support your hopes and dreams. I vow to always be there for you. When you fall, I will catch you. When you cry, I will comfort you. When you laugh, I will share your joy. No matter what lies ahead of us, I will embrace it as a journey that can only be completed together. I promise this, now and forever."

The sound of sniffles was loud in the room as Logan lifted a hand to brush away the tears that fell from Rory's eyes at his words. Then a chuckle coursed through the crowd, starting with the bride and groom when a little voice excitedly called out, "Hi Mommy. My mommy. My daddy. Hi, Daddy."

When the room again quieted, Reverend Skinner gestured to Rory. "Your turn, dear."

She smiled brightly. "With all my heart, I, Lorelai Leigh take you, Logan Elias, to be my husband. I promise to be your lover, companion and friend. Your partner in parenthood," she said with a quirk of her lips. "Your ally in conflict. Your greatest fan. I will be your comrade in adventure, your accomplice in mischief, your strength in times of need. I will listen with understanding, and trust you completely. For all the days of my life."

"And now for the exchanging of rings." Reverend Skinner said and held out his hand for them. Logan turned to Colin, who handed him Rory's ring right away. Rory looked to Lane, her matron of honour, and took the ring she held out. With both their rings in his hand, the reverend placed a blessing upon them and then held them out to the couple once more.

"Rory," he nodded and she picked up the ring she'd purchased for Logan with a deep breath. She held it at the end of his left ring finger and spoke the vow they'd each memorized.

"The fitting of this ring with it's unending circle symbolizes my everlasting love for you. The placing of this ring on your finger, is the fulfillment of my dreams to have you as my friend, my love, my husband, to live as one with you forever." She finished off the rest of the vow and slipped the ring firmly on to his finger.

Reverend Skinner held Rory's ring out to Logan. He plucked it from the other man's hand and took Rory's left hand in his. Before he began he lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed the palm. She smiled at him and mouthed the words 'I love you.'

"Ace, the fitting of this ring with it's unending circle symbolizes my everlasting love for you. The placing of this ring on your finger, is the fulfillment of my dreams to have you as my friend, my love, my wife, to live as one with you forever. With this ring, I give you my heart. From this day forward you shall not walk alone. My heart will be your shelter, and my arms will be your home."

He pressed the ring on to her finger and when it sat at the base, he grabbed her other hand and squeezed. The rest of the ceremony and it's legalities passed in a fluid blur of motion, until at last the reverend raised his hands and said. "It is with great pride and pleasure that by the authority given to me from God, and by the state of Connecticut, I pronounce you husband and wife. Logan, you may kiss your bride."

And that is precisely what Logan did. Thoroughly and with great skill and pleasure. When he finally released her, they were both flushed and breathless. As they turned with grins to face their family and friends, they heard the Reverend speak once more.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you for the first time, Mr. and Mrs. Logan Huntzberger."

Later, after they'd taken pictures, greeted guests to the reception, eaten dinner and been toasted by all and sundry, Logan pulled Rory to the center of the dance floor. Continuing his act as the master of ceremonies, Finn announced with his microphone that the newly married couple would be starting their first dance in a few short moments for those who wished to watch. As expected, many of the party-goers moved or turned toward Rory and Logan to do just that.

And that's when Finn faced the couple and smiled. "The first time the two of you danced together it was at Richard and Emily's vow renewal, and it was to the song _Moon River_. Now in trying to decide what song to dance to for your own first dance as a married couple, that song was a front runner, and in fact was the song the two of you picked. The decision was made over a year ago, the choice never reviewed or reevaluated. At some point Rory, your new husband heard a song that got it's hooks into him. The more he heard it, the more he knew it was the perfect song for the two of you to begin your marriage by. As one of his oldest friends, and one of your best, I had to agree. So Rory, Logan, enjoy your first dance as man and wife."

"You changed our song?" Rory asked in baffled, shocked tones, but there was a bit of laughter in her voice as well.

"Trust me, Ace." Logan replied simply and held his hands out to her. As she placed her hands in his, the first notes of the song _Perfect_ by Ed Sheeran began to play at the same moment the lyrics floated through the room.

_ I found a love for me_

_ Darling just dive right in_

_ Follow my lead_

Rory's smile spread slowly across her face. "Logan, you're such a softie." She teased as they began to sway.

He shrugged and pulled her more firmly into his arms. "What can I say, Ace, you bring out the marshmallow in me."

Her arms wrapped around him and she rested her cheek against his shoulder. They moved together in the middle of the floor, wrapped up in each other and oblivious to everyone else in the room. She let him lead their movement, content to simply listen to the lyrics of the song that Logan murmured along with Zach. She had a bit of a moment when she realized that Lane must have known the song had been changed and yet hadn't mentioned it to her. Then she realized Lane simply must have approved of the surprise.

_ Well I found a woman, stronger than anyone I know_

_ She shares my dreams, I hope that someday I'll share her home_

_ I found a love, to carry more than just my secrets_

_ To carry love, to carry children of our own _

She lifted her head and looked at him. He turned his face slightly to meet her eyes. She touched her lips gently to his for just a moment and pulled back. "I love you." She told him and he smiled and touched his lips to hers again for another heartbeat, two. When they separated, she once again laid her cheek on his shoulder and let him sway and turn her across the floor.

Applause rose up around the room as the song neared it's ending. There were other dances they had to take part of - her with Chris and with Luke, and with Mitchum too, Logan with his mother, and with Lorelai and Emily. It would be some time before the two of them would have another moment alone together, so Rory pulled his face to hers and kissed him again quick and hard.

"Once we're done with all the dances, can we sneak away for a few minutes?" She whispered into his ear.

"Just come find me, Ace," he replied easily. "I'll sneak away with you any day." She grinned again and they turned to find their next dance partners.

It was close to an hour later before Rory tracked him down and he made an excuse to get them away. He led them directly to one of the doors out of the room and they quickstepped down the hallway to one of the small anterooms at the hall. Logan opened the door and they both slipped in, closing the door tight behind them.

He turned and looked at her, and they spent a minute just staring at each other in silence. Then he stepped close to her and cupped her face in both hands.

"Well hi there, wife." He said softly.

She chuckled but closed the distance and touched her lips lightly to his. Her hands came up to his chest, one settling over his heart, the other sliding up and around the back of his neck. "Hello there, husband."

He kissed her again, deeper, more intently. When he pulled back, her eyes were closed, and she was breathless. He touched his forehead to hers and then it was his turn to chuckle.

"Was this why you wanted to sneak off?" He asked wryly. "Or was there something else."

"Oh right," she muttered and blinked her eyes a couple times to focus. He watched her eyes sharpen on him.

"What?" He asked. "I know that look, there's definitely something going on."

She smiled. "How would you feel if I told you that our Huntzberger family was going to be expanding in roughly seven and a half months?" Then she bit her lip and waited for his response. She watched as he processed her words, saw a fleeting frown cross his face and then dawning understanding of what she meant.

"We're pregnant, again?" He asked, his voice brimming with wonder.

"We're pregnant again." She confirmed. "I found out for sure yesterday with Dr. Britemore in Bridgeport." They stare at each other in silence, smiles stretching across both their faces.

"When should we tell Liam he's going to be a big brother?" Logan asked excitedly, his hands dropping down to her waist. His thumbs brushed repeatedly over the sides of her stomach through her dress.

Rory bit her lip and gave him a conspiratorial smirk. "Maybe this time around we should keep the news to ourselves for a while? Really take the opportunity this time to enjoy it on our own? Have our own little secret." She suggested. "Just for a little while. And then announce it to everyone together."

"How long is a little while?" He asked but she could already tell he was game for a little mischief of their own making.

"Until the New Year?" She proposed with pursed lips.

He smiled at her and his eyes twinkled merrily. "New Year's Brunch with our families?" He countered.

"Celebrate New Year's, and announce the New Baby?" She said slowly, pondering the timeline. Her clear blue eyes met his. "That sounds perfect to me!"

And when his lips touched hers again, the words repeated in her mind.

_That sounds perfect to me. _

* * *

Crap, one last **Disclaimer**: I do not own the rights to Ed Sheeran's song, _Perfect_. But it was pretty perfect for the wedding and I can only applaud the artist his talent!

That's it, that's the end of Ever Changing Life. I hope you've enjoyed this winding tale of Rory and Logan's finally figuring out how to be a couple and make it work.

So what come's next?

Last year I started plotting and writing a holiday one-shot companion to this story. And then I expanded the plotting and turned the one-shot into a full-on companion story. As I mentioned at the top of this chapter, I'll be hunkering down this November to write as part of the NaNoWriMo writing challenge that takes place each year. Presuming that everything goes well, I should start posting the new story by mid-December. *knock on wood* Keep an eye out for that new story - currently titled Ever Changing Christmas - to pop up in the index, or watch my profile for info in December.

Have a great November everyone and wish me luck and fruitful writing days!

Cheers!

LD


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